August 2020 - Naturens - CCN mailing lists

by David Webster

Dear All, Â Â Â Went out about dawn to haul wood in morning cool and, while loading it, woke up three snakes. A large and small melanistic Garter Snake (about 36" & 12") and a brightly ornamented Ringneck. Good to see them making a comeback. YT, DW, Kentville

3 years, 8 months

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Little Brown Bat - Aug 10

by Judy Tufts

Last evening - Mon Aug 10 - Sue Bissix and her family were thrilled to see a Little Brown Bat flying around their home on Kencrest Ave in Wolfville around 9:00 pm. Kencrest's not far from the old Wolfville reservoir. Let's hope this isn't the only one seen in the Wolfville area. Cheers, Judy Tufts >>>>>>>> Judy Tufts Wolfville <<<<<<<<

3 years, 8 months

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Small tree I.D.

by dschlosb-g＠ns.sympatico.ca

We had elms before Hurricane Juan. Since then, young trees sprout up every year, which we assumed were elms. Now we are starting to wonder. Uneven leaf bases with almost no stems, fat-oval, long pointed, double-toothed leaves, kind of rough-textured, mostly about 6" by 3". The twigs have lenticels. The end buds are false (we think). The buds are small, with a sort of bulbous base. There seem to be two bundle scars (?). The largest young tree has arching branches, like the old elms. The leaves are subject to the same ailment the old elms had-leaf miner, we think. Our ground is sloped to the SE and fairly dry. Is this enough information? We took photos. See the link below. https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArX7VIRArqDCqMFxFnLlNdrjbqGCeQ?e=TdmEeg HELP!! Thanks. Jane and Dave Schlosberg

3 years, 8 months

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Nova Scotia Bird Society Magazine - Photos and Stories Wanted

by Alix d'Entremont

LOOKING FOR: Photos and related short accounts from spring (March, April, and May) and summer (June and July) 2020. Weâ€™re introducing a new item to the Nova Scotia Bird Society magazine regular lineup: photos submitted by our readers (paid NSBS members), each with a short, related account. Weâ€™d like to see what youâ€™ve been seeing and to hear about the circumstances in which you made the sightings. **Here are some tips to follow:** â€¢ We will accept only one photo submission per person per issue. â€¢ Submit only digital, high-resolution photos (1 megapixel or more). Please send photos uncropped and in their original resolution to allow more flexibility in the magazine layout process. â€¢ If possible, label each photo in this format: YYYYMMDD-Species-Location-PhotographerName.jpg. â€¢ Attach the photo to an email message with â€œThrough the Apertureâ€ as the subject header. â€¢ In the body of the email, include at least three sentences describing the bird, where and when you saw it, and the circumstances related to the photo. This can include details on the location that others might not be aware of. Feel free to write more if youâ€™ve got a lot to say about your photo. We reserve the right to edit for space and other considerations. â€¢ Include your name as youâ€™d like it to appear in the photo credit, along with the names of the town and county in which you live. â€¢ Final decisions regarding which photos will be used will be made by the newsletter staff. Photos taken during each season will be due on the 15th of the next month, but since we are just beginning, I am still accepting photos for the spring and summer issues for a couple weeks or so. Here are the due dates that will apply going forward: Autumn (Aug-Nov): Photos due Dec 15 Winter (Dec-Feb): Photos due Mar 15 Spring (Mar-May): Photos due June 15 Summer (Jun-Jul): Photos due Aug 15 Send photos to: alixdentremont(a)hotmail.com By sending us your photos, you are agreeing to grant us the non-exclusive rights to publish them in our newsletter and, if we choose, in other printed materials and on our website. All photos, if used, will be credited with your name whenever possible. To get things started, here is an example photo and text from Lyall Bouchard on my Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19oP0l_ZSZ1lVN5pEnL21HBtNWJJjtTHu/view?usp=… Thanks! Alix Arthur d'Entremont Bachelor of Science Geomatics Engineering Editor of Nova Scotia Birds, a publication by the Nova Scotia Bird Society https://www.nsbirdsociety.ca/ 292 Abbott's Harbour Road Middle West Pubnico Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia Canada B0W 2M0 Mobile: +1 902 307 0373 e-mail: alixdentremont(a)hotmail.com eBird NS Photography https://tinyurl.com/yacse42l eBird Profile https://ebird.org/profile/NDE2ODUz/world Website http://alixdentremont.blogspot.ca/ (rarely updated)

3 years, 8 months

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large wasps

by Henk Kwindt

We seem to be invaded by what we idâ€™d as (blue) mud dauber wasps, donâ€™t recall we have seen them before but this year lots. They go crazy for the (2nd yr) parsley flowers. Have also found a few â€œmud nestsâ€ which I have found in previous years also but this year there are many holes in them indicating that the young ones crawled their way out which may not have occurred in previous years. Would the warmer weather have made the difference? Henk Kwindt, Cow Bay, NS.

3 years, 8 months

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Fwd: Re: Bumble Bee (Re)visits

by Mary Macaulay

Bumble bees are exceptionally interesting behaviourly for example they will nibble plants to get them to bloom. Iâ€™ve definitely seen this in my garden. A BB will come back again and again to a bud and nip at it. Thereâ€™s been some research done on this https://www.livescience.com/bumblebee-bites-make-flowers-bloom-early.html so I donâ€™t think we can dismiss a BBâ€™s behaviour as mindless. Something is definitely going on there. Another piece of research found when bumble bees land on flowers, some of the positive static charge from their bodies moves to the flower and cancels some of the flowerâ€™s negative static charge; this lasts for 1 to 2 min. The authors hypothesized that a bee might use the net charge of a flower to judge if the flower has been recently visited by another bee and, therefore, has diminished offerings of nectar and pollen. https://www.pnas.org/content/113/26/7020 Very cool With kindest regards Mary On Aug 8, 2020, at 8:08 PM, David Patriquin <davidgpatriquin(a)yahoo.ca<mailto:davidgpatriquin@yahoo.ca>> wrote: Well that is how it operates more generally, once the flowers are fertilized they send out a different signal to pollimaors. re Back Knapweed, def. a boon to pollinators and I plant it in my garden area David G Patriquin Professor of Biology (retired) Dalhousie University Web Stuff at versicolor.ca<http://versicolor.ca> Forest Blog at nsforestnotes.ca<http://nsforestnotes.ca> emails sent to patriqui(a)dal.ca<mailto:patriqui@dal.ca> & davidgpatriquin(a)gmail.com<mailto:davidgpatriquin@gmail.com> go to davidgpatriquin(a)yahoo.ca<mailto:davidgpatriquin@yahoo.ca> On Saturday, August 8, 2020, 04:52:07 p.m. ADT, Burkhard Plache <burkhardplache(a)gmail.com<mailto:burkhardplache@gmail.com>> wrote: Having too much time to sit in the backyard, I took to observing bumble bees visiting a patch of Black Knapweed. When following a single bee, it appears they somehow recall which flowers they have already visited, and which are new to them. They seem to nearly never revisit an already visited flower. Does somebody on this list know if my observation is just a fluke, or if it represents known bumblebee behaviour. If it is typical behaviour, is it known how they do it (scent, visual, tracking, ...)? Curious, Burkhard _______________________________________________ Naturens mailing list -- naturens(a)chebucto.ns.ca<mailto:naturens@chebucto.ns.ca> To unsubscribe send an email to naturens-leave(a)chebucto.ns.ca<mailto:naturens-leave@chebucto.ns.ca> _______________________________________________ Naturens mailing list -- naturens(a)chebucto.ns.ca<mailto:naturens@chebucto.ns.ca> To unsubscribe send an email to naturens-leave(a)chebucto.ns.ca<mailto:naturens-leave@chebucto.ns.ca>

3 years, 8 months

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Bumble Bee (Re)visits

by Burkhard Plache

Having too much time to sit in the backyard, I took to observing bumble bees visiting a patch of Black Knapweed. When following a single bee, it appears they somehow recall which flowers they have already visited, and which are new to them. They seem to nearly never revisit an already visited flower. Does somebody on this list know if my observation is just a fluke, or if it represents known bumblebee behaviour. If it is typical behaviour, is it known how they do it (scent, visual, tracking, ...)? Curious, Burkhard

3 years, 8 months

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Help with bird ID please

by Marg Millard

This morning about 9 am, several tiny birds were at my windows being harassed by the Hummingbirds who have taken over the property. Not much bigger than the hummingbirds. My first impression was a Red Start due to light showing through the tail (underneath facing me) bands of pale Almost yellow not orange. Not a Yellow Rumped Warbler, I do have those. I don't believe I have ever seen these before. I am assuming they were warblers. I think they may have been looking for protein as they were very quickly flying up down along the window panes. Might be one the shingles but I couldn't see that. Description, no photos. Quite a white yellow in places, with a definite black throat and more black on the face maybe not over the head. Does this ring a bell with anyone? White Point Artist, Marg Millard 19 White Point 2 Rd., White Point, Queens Co., R.R. # 1 Hunts Point, Nova Scotia B0T 1G0 Canada (902) 683-2393 MargMillard.ca By Appointment, please "Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tunes without the words And never stopsâ€“at all." (Emily Dickinson)

3 years, 8 months