Nature Moncton Nature
News
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Proofreading courtesy of
Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**All appreciation to
Jessica Belanger-Mainville for leading the Wednesday evening walk to Riverview’s
Mill Creek Nature Park. She explained the interesting history of this park that
was originally a significant military naval base during the Second World War, mainly staffed by women. The Town of Riverview has done a fantastic job erecting trails and bridges through the area with a large recreational facility
under construction.
The sudden rain the night
before caused many fresh mushrooms to emerge that caught the interest of many
participants.
Brian Stone and Jessica send a few photos from the walk. The Wednesday Night Walkers didn't see many birds, but did see an interesting variety of other natural items. One of many cedar waxwings was photographed, a broad-leaved helleborine plant, and water hemlock.
Earlier in
the day at Wilson Marsh, Brian photographed a relaxed white-tailed deer
and a bright pink water lily (identification to be confirmed!).
**Shannon Inman shares several observations from the Harvey area, including a white-winged crossbill, a great spangled fritillary butterfly, at home a red-winged blackbird suspected to be molting, a ruby-throated hummingbird with wings back and puffed upward, warding other hummers away from the feeder, crown vetch, St. John’s wort, spreading dogbane (a very fragrant pollinator attractant), and honeysuckle with berries.
**On Tuesday morning,
Louise went to one of her favourite spots on the other side of Amherst, NS --
the reservoir on Pumping Station Rd. She usually searches for dragonflies
there and finds a good diversity of dragonflies that like a lake/river environment.
On the lake, she saw slaty skimmers and twelve-spotted skimmers
and close by was a dusky clubtail. Down by the river, she spotted
numerous river jewelwings, both male and female. She also saw a mustached
clubtail, which was a new one for her. As always, thanks to Gilles
Belliveau for his help with ID confirmation.
**At a Beaver pond,
Brian Coyle has been seeing two white-tailed deer bucks hanging out together on several
different occasions who both have fibromas.
(Editor’s note: fibromas,
a.k.a. ‘deer warts,’ are non-malignant wart-like growths that are typically
caused by infection with a species-specific virus. These are normally of no
harm to the deer and are more commonly seen in younger deer and are no problem
to other animals.)
Brian also shares photos
of developing Canada Mayflower berries and purple-fringed orchids in
their prime.
**On Tuesday, Brian Stone
checked out the milkweed patches on Gorge Rd. in Moncton and sends some photos
from his outing. There were not many butterflies seen, nor many bees even,
surprisingly. Brian remembers the milkweed patches humming with the noise of
hundreds of bees collecting pollen and nectar. This time he saw only a small
number, less than 10. The butterflies he saw were a bit damaged and worn-looking,
except for the fritillary. A sorry-looking white admiral butterfly, a
very dark banded hairstreak butterfly, a harvester butterfly, and
a great spangled fritillary butterfly were photographed. Other residents
of the area recorded were a metallic wood-boring beetle, a thread-waisted
wasp, a tachinid fly (cylindromyia), a common yellowthroat
carrying a snack, an immature white-throated sparrow, a Queen Anne's
lace flower hosting many red soldier beetles, an interesting witches broom
on an evergreen sapling, and a male northern cardinal on the back deck
at home.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
