NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
August 27, 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
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 Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**Final
Wednesday Night Walk & Social on tonight
Date:
Wednesday, August 27, 2025, 6 PM
Location:
31 Rockland No. 1 Road, Taylor Village, NB E4K 2R1
Hosts:
Fred and Susan Richards
As August
comes to an end, COME JOIN US, for Nature Moncton’s final Wednesday Night Walk
at Fred and Sue Richards’ property. The address is 31 Rockland No. 1 Road,
Taylor Village, to start a walk at 6:00 PM rain or shine. There will be
some social time and then a walk down to the Memramcook River. The walk will be
on mowed trails and the walking fairly easy. We recommend long pants and
mosquito repellent. We hope to see you there! All are welcome. If you need
directions or have questions, call Fred at 506-334-0100.
**Brian
Coyle had a pair of merlin nest near his home and got some nice video of some
of the family including their loud vocalization that is often heard before
seeing them. Check out Brian’s video links below:
**John
Inman found 4 more monarch butterfly caterpillars on a very small milkweed
plant at the front of their house.
(Editor’s
note: the timeslot period for fresh adults to emerge will soon be drawing to a
close. These individuals will potentially emerge as strong-winged adults ready
to start their voyage to Mexico.)
John
comments that he has not seen any male Ruby-throated hummingbirds for a few days, and the females
and young-of-the-year are really battling at the feeders.
(Editor’s
note: this is the expected timeslot when male ruby-throated hummingbirds will
begin their migration voyage south. The females and young-of-the-year will
remain longer, some into the middle of September. No doubt they are happy to wave
the wing goodbye to the pugnacious males.)
Shannon
Inman spotted a merlin on a post near the highway to allow her to get excellent
photographs.
**On
Tuesday Brian Stone drove to a small pond beside Grand Lake to search for some
interesting dragonflies that he had seen reported there. He had planned to go
earlier in August but was delayed by Covid recovery and so was lucky that some
of the dragonflies were still present and active there and he was very glad
that they had waited for him. The two special dragonflies that he was hoping
for, and found, were male and female blue dashers and a male widow
skimmer. The blue dashers seemed absent initially, but appeared and became
very active after two heavy thunder showers passed over and the Sun came out.
The female dashers were even seen laying eggs on lily pads.
The widow
skimmer was a late comer and only showed near the end of Brian's visit. At
first it was not approachable and flew off to hide in the alders beside
the trail whenever Brian came within camera range, but after a few minutes it
settled down on a perch beside the pond and even let Brian get within a meter
and take cell phone pictures. Other dragonflies seen were many autumn
meadowhawks, most of which were involved with mating. The spreadwing
damselflies seen were also many and also mostly mating. Two hickory
tussock moth caterpillars were photographed, as well as one of several least
skippers.
An
immature great blue heron came to the pond to hunt, but only seemed to be able
to catch tiny little fish that hardly seemed worth the effort. A pod of
dizzyingly active whirligig beetles congregated in one area and some
large tadpoles were resting near the edge of the pond, luckily on the other
side from the heron.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
No comments:
Post a Comment