NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
Sept 9, 2024
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**Lynn and Fred Dube walked along Big Island Beach
shore on Sunday near Pictou, NS to note several Saltmarsh Caterpillars actively
on the move. They were quite large.
They also took note of the plants Cocklebur
and Dusty Miller a.k.a Beach Wormwood that favour seashore as their
habitat.
**We
have several species of Crane flies in New Brunswick but it seems we are
seeing some rather large ones at the moment out on their mating mission which
in most species is only a few weeks.
John Inman photographed one of the
larger species of Crane flies, measuring approximately 4 ½ inches ‘legs to tail’.
John also
photographed a mushroom which was one of a clump growing beneath birch
trees in his yard. It is nice to see the spore print colour that John did on a
black background to show it is distinctly white which normally helps a lot in
identification. The general appearance suggests it to be one of the milk
mushroom species (Lactarious) that would show an oozing latex if cut into when fresh.
John comments they looked out the window early Monday
morning to see an adult Raccoon at the water dish with two quite small young ones
to suspect a second brood.
**Tony Thomas felt lucky to have found a Bethune's
Pinion Moth (Lithophane bethunei) in a natural resting position
in the gap between the door and side of a garden shed. It was actually in
a vertical position with the head uppermost. This is one of the moths that
emerge in the Fall and overwinters as an adult, a strategy that allows the
female to lay eggs on the very fresh opening buds of hardwood trees.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
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