NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
Sept 30, 2024
Nature Moncton members as well as
any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond are invited to share their photos and
descriptions of recent nature sightings to build a fresh (almost) daily edition
of Nature News
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courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**Jane
LeBlanc just recently put out her suet feeders for the season and was
happy to see a Canada Jay take advantage of them.
Always
a very special birdfeeder guest!
**Black
Bears are obviously out and fueling up for their winter siesta as more reports
are coming in of observations of them feeding during the day.
On
a trip around their Harvey neighborhood, Shannon Inman spotted a Black Bear
in an open field foraging. It had no white blaze on the chest like the one seen
around the neighbourhood recently to indicate at least two are in the immediate
area.
**Bob Blake comments that American Robins are now feasting on his Mountain Ash berry trees with gusto at the moment.
On the 28th of September, Nancy Mullin in Quarryville, photographed a Cedar
Pinion Moth, one of the rarest North American species with only eight images on
BugGuide. This species was described as a new species in 1999 by Reggie Webster
and Tony Thomas so it is always interesting for Tony to see images of this
species:
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/244493794
**Jim
Saunders got an excellent photograph of the Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar
in the Redmondville area of Miramichi on Sunday.
The
hairs (setae) of this caterpillar can cause significant skin reactions in many
people when handled.
**Many
of our deciduous trees put on a beautiful show of colour this time of year. One
that is hard to overlook is the striking red of Staghorn Sumac foliage.
Nelson
Poirier was struck by a colourful group on Sunday.
The
tightly packed masses of fruit persist on the shrub all winter and are consumed
by birds but are considered berries of last resort by most fruit connoisseur
birds.
A
point Nelson noticed about this particular clump was that no fruit was present.
This plant comes as male and female so fruit would only be present on a female plant.
It takes 3-4 years for the female plant to produce fruit so this must have been
a young stand.
Nelson also photographed a Cortinarius genus mushroom to show the cobwebby partial veil remnants which is a very
significant feature in recognizing a member of the genus. This genus is
very common and not of edible interest but important to recognize for mushroom
interests. It yields a brown spore print and most have an earthy odour.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
