NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
July 28, 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
**While walking through the woods on
Saturday, Louise Nichols noticed the leaves at the top of a fern folded over to
form a ball (fern ball). When she unraveled the leaves, she found a
"nest-like" structure that contained what appeared to be a face with
two eyes. She assumes this is a larva of some sort, but wonders what it is.
(Editor’s note: the photos have been
sent to BugGuide for their thoughts, but in the meantime, comments are welcome.
An Internet search did show a nest very similar to this one, made by the fern leaftier
moth, but the larva looks different, which may just be a stage of development.)
**Veronica Price photographed great
spangled fritillary and common wood-nymph butterflies that added to the
immense beauty in her garden world on Sunday. Her milkweeds are humming and
dancing with life.
**Georges Brun reports the water
level was still high in Bis Marsh in Dieppe, so there are not as many birds as when the
levels were lower.
At least a dozen great blue herons
are along the south side of the pond. Some northern shovelers,
greater and lesser yellow legs, and a fairly sizable flock of shore
birds too far to ID, but most likely the species headed toward Johnson Mills or
Mary Point.
**Rosita Lanteigne called Frank Branch
Sunday afternoon to say that she had counted over 300 whimbrel on the
left side of the bridge going to Pokesudie Islands from Lower Caraquet. By the
time Frank got there, he counted a little over 200 that were still there, but
they were leaving in small groups.
They were
very easy to count with the telescope, but too far for a decent photo. Only three lesser yellowlegs were with them, with one in the photo.
**John Inman captured a pleasant
photograph of a
John also photographed a pair of
bumblebees working a flower cluster together, one of which is a honeybee
while the other is a brown-belted bumblebee. This bee is unfamiliar to
the editor, but the AI apps are quite insistent, so we are
going with strongly suspected. A yellowjacket wasp was also working
another flower cluster with a blue mud dauber wasp simply posing for a photo.
(Editor’s note: We have two species of mud daubers in New Brunswick. Both are solitary nesters building mud nests in which the female deposits an egg, but catches and paralyzes several spiders to place in the nest with the egg to nurture the soon-to-hatch larvae. The more colourful black and yellow mud dauber builds its own nest, which may be in among small groups, even though it may be solitary. The blue mud dauber will often use the built nest of its kin, but otherwise has similar biology. Neither are considered aggressive unless nests are significantly disturbed.)
**Brian Stone joined Cathy
Simon on Sunday for a walk on the beaver dam trail behind Crandall University.
Many interesting subjects were observed, and some photos will follow later, but
some northern slender ladies' tresses orchids were a priority to be
identified and featured on the blog.
(Editor’s
note: We have several ladies’ tresses species in New Brunswick. Each species
seems to have its own blooming period and except for one species (case’s ladies’
tresses), are not considered rare but easily overlooked.
Brian’s
photo nicely shows the green ‘mouth’ of the bloom (arrowed) to make this one a little
easier to identify as the northern slender ladies’ tresses orchid.)
**On
Saturday Brian Stone joined Gordon Rattray, Nelson Poirier, and members of the
N.B. Botany club for their outing in Albert County to Albert Mines seeking out
rare and interesting plants around the former gypsum mines. Many more photos
will come at a later date, but Brian sends photos of a passing broad-winged
hawk that delighted the group during their lunch break. Its distinct
vocalization was heard by many.
Nelson
Poirier.
Nature Moncton
