Nature Moncton Nature News: March 11 2025

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

March 11, 2025

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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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols

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**Jane LeBlanc noticed a woolly bear caterpillar in her St. Martins yard on Sunday.

(Editor’s note: The woolly bear caterpillar is the larval stage of the isabella tiger moth, which overwinters as the caterpillar and is ready to move about on the first warm days approaching spring. It can occasionally be seen on the snow on warmish winter days. The caterpillar will go into its pupa stage in later spring to emerge as the adult moth ready to fly on its mating flights. It is not the only moth to overwinter as a larval caterpillar, but it may be the most commonly one encountered with its distinct markings.)

On Monday, Jane had a pileated woodpecker fly through but missed a photo op. Later, a sharp-shinned hawk flew into the birch tree but took off before Jane could take a photo. Minutes later, they heard a loud thump, and then the hawk appeared in the birch tree again. They think it flew into the house. A photo was snapped before it flew off this time.

**Yet another overwintering moth caterpillar to feature today:

Tony Thomas found a large yellow underwing caterpillar on his Fredericton driveway on Monday.

Tony points out this is an introduced European species that can do a lot of damage, as caterpillars, to lawns. The caterpillars overwinter and can become active in warm weather as this one was in Fredericton on Monday.

**Brian Coyle was able to get out to his trail cameras on Monday and found that the conditions for tracking were excellent, with a shallow amount of fresh powder on top of the thick crust. He expects that it will be as good Tuesday morning.

This is the second time that Brian has found porcupine tracks heading way out into a harvested corn field.

The hind foot of a porcupine has a very large and flat heel pad with a texture like pigskin. The claws on their paws are very curved and long, registering well ahead of their prints. Also, the front footprint ends up landing behind the rear footprint on the same side.

Brian also recognized the tracks of a common raven, landing and walking away. He knows that they are raven tracks because it had to run to take off, whereas a crow can take off from a standing position.

(Editor’s note: Brian leaves some really nice points to keep in mind when suspecting tracks of these two species.)

**As Fred and Lynn Dube were picking up their mail, they saw behind a red fox in the field behind the mail boxes. Fred only had his cell phone, so the pictures are documentary. It wasn't timid at all. Fred whistled to get its attention, and it cooperated nicely. After the picture was taken, it sat down in the field and watched them.

**Pat Gibbs sent a photo of a lichen that appears to enjoy being attached to a birch log in her yard.

Consultation with Kendra Driscoll at the NB Museum provided an identification and I will quote Kendra:

“It's a Parmelia (shield lichen), probably Parmelia squarrosa (bottlebrush shield lichen), but I would need to get a good look at the branching pattern on the rhizomes below to be certain. The whitish broken reticulate pattern on top (looking like the top surface is worn away in places) is typical of the genus, and this species has cylindrical vegetative propagules (isidia).”

(Editor’s note: Lichens are amazing forms of life that come in such a diversity of shapes and colours; they are with us all year long and we unfortunately tend to overlook them.)

**Brian and Annette Stone walked the trail around the ponds at Highland Park in Salisbury and they were interested in checking out the new trail extension that the community has created that extends all the way to Parkin St. They walked a short way along the new extension that passes through the trails in the wooded area behind the Salisbury Regional and Elementary schools but did not continue along the whole length to Parkin St. The ponds are still frozen over and the only bird life seen were several blue jays and a few crows. Brian sends some photos of the impressive new bridge/boardwalk that connects the trails at the edge of the Highland Park trails.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton