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** An early heads-up that
the first Nature Moncton meeting of the season is this coming Tuesday night, September
15. All details are at the end of this edition and up front on Monday.
**Susan Richards photographed
a crane fly on the side wall of their porch. After she took
a photo and did a bit of research, she noted that the crane fly had two red mites on it.
These mites could be
parasitic, but they're more likely hitchhikers. It's a great way to travel if you
don’t happen to have wings!
**Fred Richards was
cleaning out the wood pile by their fire pit and came across an egg-shaped
item that he had never seen before, and he was quite surprised. Fred assumed it was a puffball and gave
it a squeeze to confirm. The first surprise was when the outer skin
peeled back to reveal a clear jelly that looked like egg white. The
second was the quite firm white center.
This was the egg stage
of the netted stinkhorn mushroom. Soon the egg stage will break open and a quite
beautiful mushroom will emerge. The egg stage has no odor and it is served as a
culinary delicacy in some Oriental cultures. The beautiful emerged adult
mushroom does emit a very foul odour to attract flies to disperse its spores.
(Editor’s note: I’m
attaching an old photo from 2017 if perchance some culinary adventurers may
wish to indulge!)
** Jane and Ed LeBlanc
heard their dog, Piper, barking strangely and went out to find a male
black-throated blue warbler had hit their window and was stunned on the
deck. They quickly put Piper inside and picked up the bird. They set it on the
deck railing, and after a time, it flew off.
Jane still has both
monarch chrysalises and caterpillars and photographed a recently
emerged male monarch butterfly. She found a clouded sulphur butterfly
on her flowers, and a black-throated green warbler in her trees as well.
(Editor’s note: It is
interesting to note that these two warbler species don’t make any significant
change to their wardrobe in the fall.)
**As mentioned yesterday,
Brian Stone Nelson Poirier and Fin did the Mapleton Acadian Forest Trail in
Elgin on Friday.
Before delving into mushrooms, we did find an alder buckthorn shrub with berries that we have encountered infrequently.
There
were many, many mushrooms encountered of a variety of species and far too many
to mention in one edition, so I will mention a few.
Several
of the milk mushrooms (Lactarius) were encountered. This mushroom
species always exudes latex when cut, which can be different colors and can be
used to identify the species. One in particular that was abundantly found was
the orange latex milky, which exudes a carrot-orange latex when bruised
or cut, making it easy to identify. It is a choice edible. Other milkies are
noted, some with yellow latex, white latex, or clear latex, which are different
species.
The
scaly vase chanterelle mushroom is an interesting one as it does look
like the common orange chanterelle but is very much bigger and the ropy
gills run right to the base. It is an attractive dude but not considered
edible.
The
deadly destroying angel was encountered a few times but not in great
numbers.
The
velvet pax is interesting because of its stubby velvet stalk and
sprawling cap.
The
white jelly mushroom was the first specimen we saw, and we found only one. It is surprisingly large and of jelly consistency.
Others
we had not encountered before were the little blue polypore, black
tooth mushroom, and the woolly velvet polypore.
There were many polypore mushrooms that we didn't photograph and that are hard to distinguish, since so many different species grow in New Brunswick.
A
few other photos are added below but not described.
**SEPTEMBER MEETING PRESENTATION
Stressful Cityscapes or Pockets of Paradise? How
Forest Retention May Buffer the Impact of Urbanization on Salamanders
Date: September 15, 2026
Place: Rotary Pavilion, Mapleton Park
Presenter: Joshua Christiansen
Urbanization is one of the greatest challenges
facing our world’s wildlife. As New Brunswick’s urban centers continue to grow,
it is important we understand how our growth impacts the wildlife we share our
backyards with. MSc graduate Joshua Christiansen investigated the influence of
urbanization on the behavioural and thermal ecology of the Eastern Red-backed
Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. In
this talk, Joshua will discuss his findings on the influence, or lack thereof,
of urbanization on this species’ behaviour and thermoregulation and what this
means for amphibian conservation in our urban centers.
Joshua
Christiansen is a Research Associate in the RBG Labs at Mount Allison
University. He holds a BSc in Biology from the University of Regina and an MSc
degree in Biology from Mount Allison University. Joshua studied bats in his
undergrad years but made the big switch to herpetofauna for his master’s where
he studied the behaviour and thermal ecology of Eastern Red-backed Salamanders
in urban and non-urban forests. He is now working on a field guide to the
amphibians and reptiles of Atlantic Canada.
Don’t
miss the chance to learn more about these mysterious inhabitants of our urban
yards.
All are
welcome, Nature Moncton member or not.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
