NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
July 23, 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
To
respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line
editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .
Please
advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com and the proofreader
Louise Nichols at Nicholsl@eastlink.ca if
any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.
For more information
on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com
Proofreading
courtesy of Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**This week’s Nature Moncton
Wednesday evening walk is scheduled for tonight, July 23, to the Shediac
area. All details below:
JULY 23
WEDNESDAY EVENING WALK
Date:
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 6:30 PM
Location:
Pointe-du-Chêne in Shediac
Meeting
place: Parking lot in the middle of Railway Avenue, Shediac
Leader:
Marbeth Wilson
Description
Join us in
Pointe-du-Chêne on July 23 at 6:30 PM. This will be an easy, 60-minute walk on
a flat, groomed trail with fine gravel, mulch, and some pavement. Walkers can
expect to visit the common tern nesting platform and Parlee Beach lighthouse,
and hopefully hear the vocalizations of Nelson’s sparrows, veery, and lots of
warblers.
Bug spray
and protective clothing are recommended. Don’t forget to wear your name tag
too!
All are welcome, Nature Moncton members or not.
**Jane and Ed LeBlanc took a bicycle
ride on Tuesday morning and found six cedar waxwings on a dead tree in
a boggy area. Returning home, Jane saw a bird hit a window and bounce off. They
identified it as a magnolia warbler. Jane reports her monarch butterfly caterpillars
are doing well and eating everything she puts in the cage.
(Editor’s note: As mentioned in an
earlier edition, the cedar waxwing is a late nester, and this is the reason we are
seeing only adults at the moment. They should be nesting any time, and
fledgling young should start appearing in September.)
**There is
no Osprey nest on Hay Island this year, but Aldo Dorio is seeing and
photographing them as they cruise the area in search of fish fare.
**Jamie
Burris was photographing a female ruby-throated hummingbird, leaving him realizing just how fast these
little critters can move. Jamie
comments, “When it began to shake its head, which lasted about 1 second, he captured
5 frames in the 1 second it took to shake its head at 1/400th of a second.
His thought is, if a ruby-throated hummingbird can flap its wings 53 times per
second, how many times can it shake its head per second?”
**Brian
Stone shares a few photos from past days in July that were late getting
processed. He has a song sparrow fledgling in his yard getting regular
attention from the parents, a chipmunk nibbling on a snack on the deck,
a least skipper, and white-faced meadowhawk dragonflies. Photos were
taken at various spots in Brian's yard.
Brian noticed
a small bee entering a gap in his kitchen window frame, carrying some white, fluffy material. He tried to capture a photo by taking a screenshot from a very
short video clip. Google identified the bee as a European wool carder bee. See the action in the video clip below:
BugGuide has confirmed Brian’s
identification of the bee as in the genus Apoidea (clade Anthophila). It was a female with a wad of wool in her mouth, used to build up her burrow.
To repeat, this busy bee was only 2
cm in length, with strong markings, and it was amazing to watch at work.
Nelson Poirier.
Nature Moncton
