Nature Moncton Nature
News
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on the photos enlarges them for closer observation.
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.
If you would like to share
observations/photos with Nature News, contact the editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Please advise the editor
at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com, as well as proofreader nicholsl@eastlink.ca, if any errors are noted in wording or photo
labelling.
Proofreading courtesy of
Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
The camera on the peregrine
falcon nest box on the summit of Assumption Place is now live. When
checking the link to watch the activity, scroll down to the first large image,
which shows what is happening in real time.
https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam
The natal down is rapidly disappearing, to be replaced by beautiful juvenile feathers!
**Another moth caught the
eye and camera of Anita Cannon on Saturday.
Anita photographed a small
red moth that fluttered past her in the garden to rest on a stone wall. It was
less than a cm long and wide, with wings not fully open as the photo shows.
Anita doesn’t remember seeing such a brightly coloured moth before and for very
good reason!
This moth, the raspberry
pyrausta moth (Pyrausta signatalis), which Anita correctly identified, may
be common in some parts of North America. Still, reports of it in New Brunswick
are “very limited". There have been reports of it in Ontario, Québec, and
British Columbia. Its host plants are members of the mint family, such as bergamot and bee balm, both of which we do have in New Brunswick.
(Editor’s note: this moth may be small, but the brilliant red forewings should make it easy to spot. More photographic records would be very significant. It gets its common name from the brilliant raspberry colour, not its host plant.)
**It was a soggy and mosquito-filled
morning hike for Brian Coyle’s trail camera check on Sunday, but worth it.
Brian has three videos to share: one of a cow moose, an American bittern which shows up on this camera every week, and a river otter. Brian suspects that this individual might be a kit of the year, when compared to the muskrat video that he sent previously from this same location. Check out the action at the links below:
**Jonathan Sherrard and
son Mason came across two white-tailed deer fawns while searching for a
lost baseball near their north Fredericton home on Saturday. One was carefully
concealed in a brush pile. Mother was no doubt nearby as they promptly
departed.
**While in search and
rescue training on September 20, one of the members found a modest sphinx moth,
a.k.a. poplar sphinx in a gravel parking lot.
(Editor’s note: this large,
heavily-bodied sphinx moth (35-50 mm) is flashing its brilliant hind wing eye
spots to ward off potential predators.)
**Mountain maple and striped maple are at peak bloom at the moment. Nelson Poirier took photographs of blooming mountain maple on Sunday. These two maple species can sometimes be confused. Both are smaller understory trees/shrubs. The flowers of mountain maple are upright, whereas those of striped maple droop.
The leaves may be similar,
yet different. Mountain maple leaves have coarse, jagged teeth, three shallow
lobes, and a softer, downy (hairy) underside. The petiole of the leaf of
mountain maple is red, whereas the petiole of the striped maple leaf is
green. Striped maple leaves have fine, double teeth and often resemble a ‘goose
track’ and feature a smoother, hairless texture (especially on the leaf underside).
There are several other differentiating features, but these are a few to look for this
time of year.
nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
