NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
May 14, 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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respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line
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To
view the live feed of the Peregrine Falcon nest cam on the summit of Assumption
Place in Moncton, go to:
**Norbert Dupuis again captures excellent photographs from his Memramcook yard of a male common yellowthroat, a flight photo of a male ruby-throated hummingbird, and a scenic photo of the full Moon as it appeared early Tuesday morning.
**Mac Wilmot was able
to capture video footage of the Carolina wren nesting in the dark bow of an
upended canoe in his Lower Coverdale yard. Listen closely to the video link
below to hear the young nestlings calling for food.
**Jane LeBlanc
checked her backyard pond and found a garter snake sunning itself in
shallow water along the pond liner.
(Editor’s note: This
is the second day in a row we have received a photo of a pale brown garter
snake, which is an uncommon variation.)
**The black morph of the grey
squirrel is not commonly seen in New Brunswick, yet is moderately commonly seen
in Ontario.
Richard Blacquiere has seen
a black morph grey squirrel around Spooner Island in Hampton for over a
year. Richard suspects it might be a female, as there appears to be an enlarged
mammary area as if it may be lactating.
**Cathy and Isabelle Simon
enjoyed a visit from a male rose-breasted grosbeak at their home
in Lutes Mountain.
**David Lilly captured some
excellent photos, including a male yellow warbler, a green comma
butterfly, and a leatherleaf bush at peak bloom.
(Editor’s note: The
leatherleaf is a very early blooming low shrub found in wet areas.)
**The mayapple is not
considered a plant native to New Brunswick; however, it is found in parts of
southeastern Canada and central and eastern US. It is thought not to survive
New Brunswick winters. That is certainly not the scenario for Moira Lawrence.
She purchased one plant at a plant sale in or about 2013, which has happily
survived since then in her home garden and has even been divided a few times to
form a small colony.
Moira comments that the
small flower buds are forming now. As soon as the fruit is ready, the squirrels
get to them before Moira can.
(Editor’s note: I found some
plants many years ago at an old homestead in Scoudouc and transplanted them,
but they did not survive the winter. They had obviously survived for some time
at their original location in Scoudouc.)
**Brian Stone shares
his photos of the popular, black-necked stilt that put on a great show
for birders at Shemogue on Monday. It's not often that a rare bird is so
cooperative and offers itself close enough for decent photography, so this
stilt deserves an award for best bird so far this season.
Brian also got a
photo of the stilt buddying up to a greater yellowlegs.
On Monday, after an
early morning photographing the well-photographed black-necked stilt, Brian
Stone visited Haut-du-Ruisseau Park in Memramcook to get some photos of some
of the ephemeral spring plants that appear quite close together in a small area
there. He found red trilliums, painted trilliums (flowers not
open yet), nodding trilliums (flowers not open yet), unfurled fiddlehead
ferns, and large patches of dutchman's breeches in bloom. Bumblebees
were quite interested in the dutchman's breeches blooms, and many of the
flowers had a bee hanging off them. A male rose-breasted grosbeak and a
male yellow-bellied sapsucker were photographed, and a couple of winter
wrens were heard close to the trail. A tiny blue northern azure butterfly
seemed to feel an affinity for a similarly coloured blue violet flower.
Later in the day,
Brian stopped in at the Memramcook lagoons and photographed some of the many tree
swallows perching on the fence as they rested from flying over the waters.
Mixed in with the tree swallows were several barn swallows and cliff
swallows. Overhead, an osprey flew past with a good talon full of
nesting material.
Nelson Poirier.
Nature Moncton
CLIFF SWALLOW. MAY 12, 2025. BRIAN STONE
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