September 2021 - Naturens - CCN mailing lists

by James Hirtle

I got an email saying that my subscription has been disabled. So this is a test to see if that is accurate. James R. Hirtle LaHave

2 years, 7 months

1
0
0 0

Juncos

by just so you know, you are 6 months early

Earlier in the year my wife had a hanging basket of flowers about three feet from the front door. A pair of Juncos decided to make it home and and produced 4 or 5 offspring who made our front yard their home and have been there daily. Must hang a similar basket next year.Peter Stow Hubbards

2 years, 7 months

1
0
0 0

Sora Rail

by James Hirtle

I stopped in Broad Cove this morning to take a picture of a porcupine for inaturens and was rewarded in finding a sora rail. It was in the pond beside the house signs of 7180 and 7182. James R. Hirtle LaHave

2 years, 7 months

1
0
0 0

Bumper year for yard warblers

by Andrew Stadnyk

We had more Warblers and a greater variety pass through our Meadowlands subdivision in Lower Sackville yard than ever before: Yellow, Black and White, Redstart, Blackpoll, Tennessee, Yellow-rumps (still here), Chestnut-sided, and Northern Parula, and toss-in Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos and Monarch butterflies to round-out the adventure. Was this also common in other urban areas? Andy Stadnyk Lower Sackville

2 years, 7 months

3
3
0 0

Not receiving messages

by Anne Woolaver

Hi, I have not received any NatureNS messages since Monday, September 13, 2021. I asked a colleague to post a message to the group and let me know via another E-mail account, and he said it showed up but I never received it. Is there any advice you can offer? I have not deliberately changed any of my filters or settings. Thanks very much, A. Woolaver

2 years, 7 months

1
0
0 0

Bees, flowers and maple leaves

by David Webster

Dear All, The calm warm conditions and many suitable flowers; Aster, Solidago, Erigeron, Mentha and others in the yard drew Honey Bees in full force this afternoon plus a few Bumble Bees. For some months now I have noticed browning of Maple leaves in the neighborhood but not elsewhere. The upper leaves of large trees tend to be affected first but some leaves of smaller trees, which can be readily examined, have similar browning; usually starting at the margins and working inward. I can see no indication of insect activity or fungal growth and wonder if air pollution caused this. For 3 or more months this year, drains and pavement of a street to the east were being renovated mostly with Diesel equipment. Dave, Kentville

2 years, 7 months

3
3
0 0

Should hummingbird feeders come down now?

by Don MacNeill

Here is an article from Birdwatcher's Digest. I remember Ian MacLaren having a rare hummingbird in his backyard late in the season. My neighbour just saw one looking for my feeder which I had taken down to clean. It could have been a Calliope or Anna's or something (I wish). It is back up now https://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/learn/hummingbirds/autumn-is-her… Don -- Don MacNeill donmacneill(a)bellaliant.net

2 years, 7 months

1
0
0 0

Fwd: Floppy Phargmites and "Beech farming" by Blue Jays

by Rick Whitman

Dave and I have been having a discussion on birds planting nuts. We both missed the naturens email address so I'm sharing our discussion now. You could start with my reply to Dave, further below, to make it logical. Rick W. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: David Webster <dwebster(a)glinx.com> Date: Thu, 16 Sept 2021 at 20:40 Subject: Re: [Naturens] Floppy Phargmites and "Beech farming" by Blue Jays To: Rick Whitman <dendroica.caerulescens(a)gmail.com> Hi Rick and All, Point taken. I think you are correct. They stick the nuts in soft soil to find later and those which remain may become Beech seedlings. The young Beech are all just at the edge if my narrow roads. And in locations which are moist to very wet except in dry periods of summer. So the nuts get hidden where it takes minimum effort. There are no Beech on my woodlot which are old enough to bear nuts and all young trees are located as described above. I am not sure where these nuts come from but suspect slopes of a very steep ravine to the west which I clambered up with Alison about 1958. Any tree which grows there will die of fire or a natural death as opposed to being cut. What became my woods had been clear cut about 1950, of anything worth carting out, and when we first walked across the top of the initial rise, in about 1958, it was cow pasture with a smattering of small trees. By 1981 when I bought the woodlot there were only two Beech on the 65-70 acres; one entirely dead and one barely alive. So it is good to see another wave of Beech being established. Dave Kentville On 9/16/2021 6:53 PM, Rick Whitman wrote: "It has occurred to me that moving nuts, from a remote location, and planting them in more promising locations is a primitive form of agriculture." Hi Dave, If you had written "unintentional form of agriculture", I wouldn't have any issue with that. Surely, squirrels and corvids are significant, critical tree seed planters. But if the term "primitive form" implies intention or comprehension of the result, by the blue jays, other corvids (or squirrels), I think you are ahead of any science that I've ever read. It's quite important here to realize that Corvids have amazing memory. They bury all of these nuts for winter food and they re-find an amazing fraction of those, when they want them. The ones they forget or the ones buried by birds that die will lead to new seedlings. But I don't see that as primitive agriculture. "Co-evolution" would probably be a better concept. "A Clark’s nutcracker will cache on the order of 50 to 80,000 seeds each autumn, and return to them over the course of the winter. They’ll cache 2-4 seeds in each location, meaning they’ll remember approximately 20,000 different seed locations." https://www.ayellowstonelife.com/clarks-nutcrackers-marvelous-memory/ Regards, Rick On Thu, 16 Sept 2021 at 11:00, David Webster <dwebster(a)glinx.com> wrote: > Dear All, > > The Phragmites this year has nearly all flopped over so that the > upper third is looking down in many cases. I am guessing that this is > due to a diminished uptake of Silicon early this year due to the > initially dry conditions. Those which came up after the soil was wet up > are erect or leaning only slightly. > > My young Beech in North Alton presumably planted as Beech nuts, > from a remote source, by Blue Jays are still fine. It has occurred to me > that moving nuts, from a remote location, and planting them in more > promising locations is a primitive form of agriculture. > > I have seen nothing recently about the condition of Beech trees > elsewhere. Have some/most recovered or died ? > > Dave, Kentville > > > _______________________________________________ > Naturens mailing list -- naturens(a)chebucto.ns.ca > To unsubscribe send an email to naturens-leave(a)chebucto.ns.ca >

2 years, 7 months

1
0
0 0

Floppy Phargmites and "Beech farming" by Blue Jays

by David Webster

Dear All, The Phragmites this year has nearly all flopped over so that the upper third is looking down in many cases. I am guessing that this is due to a diminished uptake of Silicon early this year due to the initially dry conditions. Those which came up after the soil was wet up are erect or leaning only slightly. My young Beech in North Alton presumably planted as Beech nuts, from a remote source, by Blue Jays are still fine. It has occurred to me that moving nuts, from a remote location, and planting them in more promising locations is a primitive form of agriculture. I have seen nothing recently about the condition of Beech trees elsewhere. Have some/most recovered or died ? Dave, Kentville

2 years, 7 months

2
1
0 0

Eastern Kingbird. Great Egret and Snowy Egret

by James Hirtle

Sylvia Fullerton and I found an eastern kingbird at Broad Cove yesterday. Today Barbara McLean located a great egret and a snowy egret at the Back Oler Farm Marsh in Garden Lots. James R. Hirtle LaHave

2 years, 7 months

1
0
0 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

Naturens September 2021