NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
September 2, 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 at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**Louise
Nichols visited the Tintamarre Wildlife Area near Sackville on Monday morning,
driving up to Paunchy Lake and walking the trail alongside the lake and marsh
area. A caspian tern was hunting in the lake and a couple of
northern harriers were also scanning the area around the water. Many
birds were active but not photographed, including swamp sparrows, cedar
waxwings, common yellowthroat, bobolinks (flying overhead), and various duck
species. Louise noted a flowering tree which she thought looked nice, but
her plant app identified it as Japanese knotweed (and she then noted the
stems, which were recognizable). Louise includes a photo of bur
marigold which was growing in many places in the area, and she photographed
a muskrat skull., Finally, she noted an extremely small butterfly
which turned out to be a least skipper, but seemed even smaller than
usual for that species
**On
August 31, a spring peeper hopped away safely, avoiding Fred Richard’s
step. Fred thought at first it was a grasshopper, but once in hand,
it was the smallest frog he had ever held.
(Editor’s
note: We often tend to think of the spring peeper around ponds in the spring.
However, it only goes to water as a nursery, then back to land in wooded areas.
At this time of year, we will hear them make their single “peep” that can easily be
confused with the vocalization of some bird.)
**Jennifer
Day-Elgee comments, “I am sure many were admiring the First Quarter Moon on
the weekend, but did anyone notice the X and V along the terminator line?
Jennifer was happy to catch this phenomenon Saturday evening and share the
photograph.
The
“Lunar X” and “Lunar V” are temporary optical illusions on the Moon’s
surface that appear as letters “X” and “V” along the terminator line during
certain phases of the Moon. These patterns are formed by the shadows cast by
sunlight skimming the rims of specific craters and highlands. They are best
viewed with a telescope around the first quarter Moon, and their appearance is a
monthly, but brief, phenomenon.”
(Editor’s
note: What a pleasant, shared observation!)
**Aldo
Dorio sends a few photos of black-bellied plover as they make migratory
refueling areas at Hay Island. The transition from breeding (alternate) to
nonbreeding (basic) plumage can lead to confusion before specific points are
noted.
**Lisa
Morris photographed an adult and juvenile twice- stabbed stinkbug together
on Queen Anne’s lace. They were cozy together when she noticed them, but
one flew off.
(Editor’s
note: the attractive umbel flower head of Queen Anne’s lace that was in
brilliant bloom earlier in the season has now gone to seed, developing into the
unique “birds nest” formation that we see so commonly now.)
**The
cicadas are singing (stridulating) very loudly at the moment in the heat of the
day.
On Sunday,
Brian Coyle had a dog-day cicada land on a dandelion leaf, almost at his
feet beside his home garden. It stayed quite still as he took a few photographs.
(Editor’s
note: The dog-day cicada and Say’s cicada are the most common species
encountered in New Brunswick and can be distinguished by their sound as well as
their body colours. Other species have been reported, but not as common as
these two annual cicadas.)
**Rheal
Vienneau photographed several more freshly emerged monarch butterflies
that he had reared at his Dieppe home. They do look ready to start their long
journey to overwinter in Mexico.
(Editor’s
note: It will be very interesting to see the results of the Saint John
Naturalists tagging effort at Point Lepreau after the numerous reports of
adults and caterpillars.)
**Locating
a silver-spotted skipper caterpillar was discussed in yesterday’s edition.
Brian
Stone located and photographed a single adult silver-spotted skipper at
the entrance of Dutch Point Park in Hampton on June 11, 2023 (not sure about
the presence of their favoured host, black locust, in that area).
It is
reported that it is not uncommon to find adults now present in New Brunswick
even though updates from the Maritimes Butterfly Atlas and ACDC don’t reflect
that as yet.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
