Nature Moncton Nature News: August 17 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, August 17, 2017 ( Thursday )

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Transcript by: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com

Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

** It's that time of year to see COMMON NIGHTHAWKS [Engoulevent d'Amérique] in groups as they chart their migration routes south and is extra pleasant to hear of them in good numbers. Rose-Alma Mallet watched approximately forty Common Nighthawks hawking insects for about half an hour over her home and the Cap Brule lagoon area on Tuesday evening.

** Lois Budd shares photos of the later blooming plant TURTLEHEAD which is in full bloom at the moment and is being very attractive to the bees for their pollen and nectar gathering missions. A SAVANNAH SPARROW [Bruant des prés] dropped by to watch the goings on. Lois is not noting any butterflies to the Turtlehead but the Turtlehead is the host plant of the Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly.

** It is very much caterpillar and chrysalis time and some very interesting observations can be made of the numerous butterflies and moths that are in that process at the moment. Kate Holmes found just that when removing seed heads from her Saint John garden Artemisia plants. Kate got a nice photo of a caterpillar and what appears to be a chrysalis. She noted several of both so the change from larval caterpillar stage to the pupal chrysalis stage must be occurring at the moment for this species. The photos Kate has shared are suspected to be the caterpillar and chrysalis of the Painted Lady butterfly or the American Lady butterfly. It is rather suspected to be the latter as Artemesia is considered one of its potential food plants.

** Jamie Burris comments that he had been reading about insects getting caught in Milkweed and he observed a HONEY BEE that was stuck for approximately five minutes in his Riverview yard Milkweed patch. Jamie also photographed what appears to be a pair of CAROLINA GRASSHOPPERS that may be mating. The Carolina Grasshopper and the Crackling Grasshopper are more easily identified when they open their wings in flight. A Paper Wasp (Polistes) wasp species was flying above his yard which proved to be much more challenging to photograph than the bees. It has been a while since we have been seeing HUMMINGBIRD CLEARWING MOTHS. Jamie had one visiting Phlox blooms on August 05.

** Brian Stone shares some photos he got around his home on Tuesday, to include a TARNISHED PLANT BUG nymph and a WHITE-FACED MEADOWHAWK dragonfly. Brian also started some practice shots for the partial solar eclipse due next Monday afternoon and was able to photograph the new sunspot, AR2671, that is just coming coming around and will be heading across the sun's disk over the next few days. Brian advises to use proper solar viewing techniques and equipment when viewing and photographing the sun or the partial eclipse on Monday. Always be careful of the sun as it can quickly damage your eyes if viewed under the wrong conditions.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton