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UP COMING EVENTS !

     The Kennebecasis Naturalist Society usually meets on the 4th Monday of the month at St. Paul's United Church at 7:30 pm.

      Sat. Oct. 20: Walk on trail at Adair's Wilderness Lodge. We will meet at Tim Hortons at 1:15 p.m. and will arrive at Adair's at 2 p.m. Following the walk, we can go to the lodge and have a meal. Please let me know if you plan on eating so I can let Ida know how many to expect. We should be ready to eat by 4 p.m. Please call me at 433-3282.

      Monday, Oct. 22: Dr. Tony Thomas will give an illustrated talk on "Butterflies & Dragonflies".
      Tony has a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Alberta, (1971). He is a Soon-to-be-retired Research Scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada and is currently working on moth diversity in forests undergoing silvicultural treatment.
      He is an active participant in the Atlantic Dragonfly Inventory Project and the author of "A Preliminary Atlas of the Butterflies of NB" published by the NB Museum in 1996 as well as several specialized scientific publications.

      Nov. TBA: Visit Betty & Walter Mitham's home near Hampton for a walk to the pond and soup afterwards. No date has been set yet but it will be after deer season.

      Monday, Nov. 26: Nelson Poirier will give an illustrated talk on "Animal Tracks".

      Sometime in Dec: Christmas Bird Count

      Monday, Jan. 28: Member's Night - 6:30 p.m. Potluck.
      Remember to bring plates, utensils and a cup or a good sized towel to wipe your hands on....besides your contribution to the feast.
      Also let Jim or Betty know what you will be contributing to the meeting in the form of slides, readings, crafts, skits, songs etc.

      Monday, Feb. 25: Jim Wilson will give an illustrated talk on "Birding in Southwest Texas" .
     The Wilsons made the trip in April, 2001 when they left NB in a late snowstorm on the 17th and returned to bare ground on the 28th. They flew in to San Antonio, then drove the following day, 500 miles west along the Mexican border to Big Bend National Park. They spent the next five days exploring the desert and the nearby mountains. On the 24th they returned east to the Edwards Plateau, a unique area about 100 miles northwest of San Antonio and searched for three days, the more lush hill country for specialty species such as Black-capped Vireo and Golden-cheeked Warbler. They concluded the trip with two days in the beautiful city of San Antonio, where they took in the annual Fiesta celebrations and visited such historic sites as the Alamo.

      Monday, Mar. 25: Scott Makepeace will give an illustrated talk on "Yellow Warblers". Scott has been studying the Yellow Warbler and its habitat.

Request For Info re:
Bat Sightings

      I am interested in any and all reports of bat sightings that have occurred recently throughout New Brunswick. Reports of bats flying are appreciated, but I am specifically interested in any information regarding known or suspected roost sites.

      Please contact me regarding any dead bats found, as we would like to have them here at UNB for our species collections, DO NOT handle any bats, live or dead, with your bare hands. Wear a pair of disposable gloves and wash thoroughly afterwards. The best way to pick one up would be to use an inside out Ziplock sandwich bag (similar to the way one would pick up after a dog). You still wear gloves and wash thoroughly afterwards.

      There are seven species of bats found here in NB, and only 2 of these, the little brown and northern long-eared, can be considered common. The other five are rare to uncommon, based on current knowledge.

      Reports of these species from various locations would greatly add to our knowledge of bat distribution in the province, and any records will be submitted to the New Brunswick museum.

      Thanks in advance,
Jeff W. Higdon, BScF
MScF Candidate
Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management
University of New Brunswick
PO Box 44555
Fredericton, NB, CANADA
E3B 6C2
Ph: (506)447-3339
Cell: (506)470-0895
Fax: (506)453-3538

N.B. Bur Oak Trees Dwindling
Jul 16 2001 5:33 PM more news from cbc.ca

      Bur oak is one of the last old growth tree species on New Brunswick's vast flood plain. It's being threatened by development. Hundreds of years ago, thousands of bur oak trees lined the shores of the Saint John River and Grand Lake. Today, there are just eight stands of the rare oak left,

     The limbs of the bur oak hold more than two centuries worth of stories. Twin bur oaks in Gagetown began growing one hundred years before confederation and have provided steady shelter to plants, animals and insects ever since.

     "We keep hearing about old growth forest, The bur oak areas represent some of the last flood plain old growth ecosystems," says Canadian Forest Service biologist Donnie MacPhee He says the rare trees need to be protected.

     Their waterfront habitat has been mostly destroyed by highways, farm development and cottage development. Today, just eight stands remain in New Brunswick. Of that, seven are on private property and four of those are for sale.

     McPhee is afraid landowners could harvest the bur oaks that remain. He wants the province to make sure that doesn't happen.

     "If there was money available, in a couple of these areas the land could be purchased and set aside as conservation areas. That would be ideal," he says.

     McPhee says there is still time to save these trees, unlike other species that have disappeared too quickly for conservation strategies. McPhee says with help and careful planning, these oaks could last another few hundred years.

Asian Shore Crab Alert.
By Dr. Diane Brousseau

     The Asian shore crab, (Hemigrapsus sanguineus), is a small brachyuran crab (Grapsidae) native to Japan and other western Pacific regions. A recent introduction to the east coast of the U.S., it has undergone rapid range expansion since its first recorded appearance in New Jersey in 1988 and is frequently the most abundant crab of rocky intertidal areas where substrates range from large boulders to rock, cobble and broken shell. An opportunistic omnivore, it feeds on a variety of resident organisms, including macroalgae, salt marsh grasses and small invertebrates such as amphipods, gastropods, bivalves, barnacles and polychaetes. Because of this broad diet it has the potential to affect the populations of numerous resident species, either via competition for a common food source or through direct predation.

      Laboratory studies have shown that the nonindigenous Asian shore crab readily consumes three species of commercial shellfish, Mytilus edulis, Mya arenaria and Crassostrea virginica. The high densities of Asian shore crab that occur in the wild, their effectiveness as predators of juvenile bivalves and their large appetites suggest an important role for these predators in restructuring the prey communities in habitats into which they have been introduced.
Diane Brousseau Ph. D., Professor of Biology,
Fairfield University Fairfield CT

Note added by David Christie

     They have probably not reached New Brunswick yet, but it seems just a matter of time. If you see anything that might be an Asian Shore Crab, be sure to alert fisheries authorities.

West Nile Virus Update
by Jim Goltz

     West Nile Virus, (WNV), has been detected in at least 25 states, Washington DC and Ontario (Canada). In the US, twice as many WNV-positive birds had been detected by late summer this year as compared with last year. This is the first introduction of WNV in Canada.
Canada Update – 24th September, 2001

     West Nile Virus has been found in Canada. A total of 60 birds are now confirmed positive and 1 bird is presumed positive in Ontario. No other province identified any positive finding. New Brunswick:

      338 dead birds (133- pick-ups, 205-sightings) have been reported to the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre (at the Atlantic Veterinary College, Prince Edward Island). Most of the birds are from crow family.

      The new states to report WNV positive findings are Iowa, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

      A total of twenty seven human cases are identified in 7 US states; Connecticut – 3, Florida – 6, New York – 5, Maryland – 5, 1 death from WNV infection in Atlanta, Georgia (71 year old woman), New Jersey – 4, and Pennsylvania – 3. 24 of the twenty-seven cases are above 60 years of age and the remaining 3 cases are in forties.

      New Brunswick has had 745 calls to the information Line and of those 479 were investigated more fully with 117 Birds being submitted for testing, (86 Crows, 10 Ravens, 16 Blue Jays, 2 Grey Jays, and 3 Unknown)

      Region Two, (includes Sussex), has had 180 calls to the Information Line and of those 92 have been investigated with 14 birds being submitted for testing. (10 Crows, 2 Ravens and 2 Blue Jays).

NB Rabies Update
by Jim Goltz

     There have been 60 cases of the raccoon strain of rabies in New Brunswick since last September. All of the cases have been within 15 km. of St. Stephen. 51 of the rabid animals have been raccoons, 9 have been skunks.