Nature Moncton Nature
News
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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
**Nature Moncton has a
very special Wednesday walk coming up tomorrow night to Haut
du Ruisseau Nature Park in Memramcook. All details are below:
**This
week’s Wednesday evening
walk is tomorrow night, August 19, starting at 6:30 PM at Haut du Ruisseau Nature
Park in Memramcook. Traveling on #106 from Memramcook toward Dorchester, turn left on Breau Creek Road, then
left toward the park sign, at the corner of Breau Creek Road and Palmer
Road. The 5 KM trail system within the park is well-signed and colour coded.
There are 5
kilometres of trails from easy gravel/packed
ground to steep climbs and some tree-rooted paths, giving moderate
conditions. There is a Porta-Potty in the parking lot. The lot can hold about 10
vehicles with an overflow parking lot below about the same
size. There are benches,
covered benches, and little buildings to sit in with windows.
Fred and
Susan Richards will lead this walk. Long pants and bug repellent
are suggested.
This
excellent hiking trail may be new to many and offers a perfect chance to explore and enjoy
it with comradeship and lots of sharp eyes to miss nothing!
In addition
to the written directions above, a park map is attached below.
Please wear your Nature Moncton name tag. Everyone is welcome, member or not.
**Yvette
Richard shares some of her whale photos and mola-mola photos from the
Saturday pelagic run.
She will
send bird pictures in the near future.
Yvette wants
to thank all the organizers and the boat crew for a great excursion.
It was an
incredible day with a great diversity of wildlife, great guides, and
a wonderful group.
The whale
photos are a sequence of the same humpback whale. The fluke is a
different humpback whale.
The photo of
the white-tailed deer and what looks like a heron was taken on the way
out of the harbor, so a few minutes out. The fawn did not move an inch the
whole time she could see it. Yvette thought they were statues, but the camera
caught the beak in the last picture, so the bird moved.
**Deanna
Fenwick took part in the pelagic tour off Grand Manan Island last weekend along
with members from Nature Moncton and friends. The weather was perfect, and the
birds and sea animals all showed up to pose for the eager group. Sightings
included great shearwaters, sooty shearwaters, a Manx shearwater, a
family of razorbill auks, Atlantic puffins, northern gannets, black guillemots,
south polar skua, red-necked phalaropes, Leach's storm petrels, Wilson's storm
petrels, great black-backed gulls, herring gulls. lesser black-backed gull,
double-crested cormorant, and great cormorant. We were also treated
to white-sided dolphins, humpback whales, and, incredibly, there were two mola-mola
(ocean sunfish) along with a huge jellyfish, which is what the mola-molas like
to eat.
Thanks go to
Jim Wilson for guiding such a great event! Deanna has also included some sightings from Castalia Marsh of short-billed dowitchers,
black-bellied plovers, lesser yellowlegs, greater yellowlegs, spotted sandpiper,
and a smooth green snake.
**Greg
Vanderknaap was in the right place at the right time to photograph a bald
eagle capturing a large white sucker in the Petitcodiac River adjacent to
Highland Park in Salisbury. The sucker was too heavy for it to carry and it had to
flap/swim to shore with its prize.
Greg’s photo drew strong
interest from Edmund Redfield and his colleagues, who have monitored fish movement
in the area for several years, especially since the bridge was built to allow
fish to move freely up the river.
Edmund and his colleagues
studied Greg’s photos closely and offered an interesting commentary, which those who are interested in fish movement in the river can review at the link below. I am quoting Edmund:
**The New
Brunswick Plants website is seeking
images for a number of species (both those on the site now and the ~300 plants
remaining to be added this fall). If you are interested in contributing images
(photo credit is given), please let me know via andflemming@gmail.com or nbplants@gmail.com, and I can send you a list of species. Many thanks to the folks
who have already provided images.
Thanks for considering,
Andrea Flemming
**John Inman photographed
a yellow sac spider, a small spider only about half the size of a
sunflower seed, which apparently has a bite similar to a wasp sting, but
they are not aggressive and will only bite in defense. John also photographed a
common picture-winged fly and a scruffy-looking ruby-throated
hummingbird.
**As a heads-up,
the New Brunswick Museum biota is happening this coming Saturday, August 22,
with all the details below and upfront on Friday.
(Editor’s
note: last year was the first year I attended these open houses, and I will
never miss one again. The diversity of items to see is nothing short of
awesome.)
**Brian
Coyle shares a nice video of collecting a lobster mushroom, showing the
orange/red coloration with the pebbly/smooth underside. This is a popular
edible with many folks. The video link is below:
Brian Stone
also adds a few photographs of lobster mushrooms he took over the
summer.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
