NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
September 20, 2025
Nature Moncton members as well as
any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond are invited to share their photos and
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** Peter and Deana Gadd had the chance to explore some of the trails at the Nature Trust of New Brunswick’s Hyla Park in Fredericton North on Friday. As the name suggests, the park is usually very wet, but like much of NB, that is not the case right now. After seeing only a brief glimpse of one unidentified frog, they came across two painted turtles. One appeared to be moving along the trail but was not in a hurry, while the other seemed to be sunbathing on a log. There was some pond water nearby, but the overall lack of water might explain why they were so easy to spot.
They recorded 10 bird species in the park, including a
solitary sandpiper, which is to be expected. A chipmunk, perhaps a very young
one, posed happily on a log.
**The amazing Friendship Trail built over the past 7 years by three nations,
Canada, US, and the Passamaquoddy Nation, opened in July on Campobello Island.
The engineering of the floating boardwalk is sure to astound everyone who visits, as it did
Mike and Chris Antle during their recent three days spent exploring this and other
trails on the island.
The
bog hosts all of the usual tapestry of floral species that you would expect to
see, and a myriad of others.
(Editor’s
note: sounds like a bucket list item!)
**Back
on last Wednesday, Brian Stone went for a short walk at the Tucker St.
Ducks Unlimited ponds off Coverdale Rd. There were large crowds of waterfowl,
including more than a hundred Canada geese and a large variety of the usually
expected ducks, such as American wigeons, mallards, black ducks, and
green-winged teals.
Many gulls were also present and may
have outnumbered the waterfowl. An interesting sight was a small group of 27 lesser
yellowlegs all feeding together in one spot away from the other birds.
After a closer inspection, Brian noticed one of those things was not like the
others and it turned out to be a lone pectoral sandpiper snuggled in with
the gang of yellowlegs. A couple of clouded sulphur butterflies, an
ambush bug, and a least skipper joined the photo lineup to finish
off the day.
**Nelson
Poirier photographed chipping sparrows in nonbreeding/adolescent plumage
at a white millet feeder on Friday.
This
would tend to contradict some of the comments made on the timing of breeding
plumage change in the species in yesterday’s edition. The dark lore/dark eye
line extension right to the bill is obvious in these birds, to call them
chipping sparrows.
Corrections
have been made to yesterday’s edition.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
