ISLAND NATURALIST NATURE PEI CELEBRATED ITS 50th ANNIVERSARY IN 2019 SOME HIGHLIGHTS ISSUE # 234 APR - JUN, 2020 • Nature PEI News; • Alewife Floater Discovered; • Forest Wolf Spider Found; • Hairy Woodpecker; • UPEI Graduate Scholarship in Science Awarded; • 2020 Fly Collections; • Red-bellied Snake; • Tree Swallow; • Valuable Records - E. Coakes Collection; • Flicker Excavation; • PEI Lichen Emblem • Non-fiction Book Award; • Island Naturalist Online; • News from About; • Bain Bird Count; • Cormorant Nests on Hillsborough Piers • Weather Events; • Great sightings: Hairless Chipmunk, Brant, Eurasian Wigeon; Ruddy Duck, Harlequin Duck, Common Nighthawk, Virginia Rail, Black-crowned Night Heron, Black Vulture, Broad-winged Hawk, Brown Thrasher, House Finch, Orchard Oriole, & Northern Cardinal; • Environmental Calendar. Which one can sting you? NATURE PEI - NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND P.O. BOX 2346, CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI C1A 8C1 Meetings are normally held of the first Tuesday of the month from October to June at 7:30 p.m. at Beaconsfield’s Carriage House, corner of West and Kent Street in Charlottetown. Each meeting commences with a brief business meeting followed by a nutrition break and our guest speaker. Members and non-members are welcome. Membership is open to anyone interested in the natural history of Prince Edward Island. Membership is available at any meeting or by contacting the Treasurer at P.O. Box 2346, Charlottetown PE C1A 8C1. Annual membership is $20 and renewals are due in January. Multi-year renewals are $20 per year for which you wish to renew. Membership expiry dates are shown in the top right hand corner of the mailing label or by a notice provided to those receiving electronic newsletters. The Society is directed by a volunteer Executive elected from its members. 2020 Executive: President ....................................................Rosemary Curley, Stratford 902-569-1209 [email protected] Vice-President ..........................................David Morrow, Charlottetown 902-569-4131 [email protected] Past President ............................... ...............Ian Scott, Charlottetown 902-892-5796 [email protected] Secretary ..........................................Robert Harding, Summerville 902-838-2699 [email protected] Treasurer ...........................................Francine Desmeules, Charlottetown 902-626-3304 [email protected] Director- Program & Publicity .............Connie Gaudet, Stratford 902-367-5774 [email protected] Director - Field Trips ..................................Barbara Dylla, Charlottetown, 902-367-2428 [email protected] Newsletter Editor....................................Dan McAskill, Donagh 902-569-4351 [email protected] NEWSLETTERS are normally published quarterly and are available in Acrobat Reader colour format via E-mail or in black & white hard copy delivered by mail. Hard copies are printed on recycled paper. Articles, notes, reports, drawings, bird sightings, plant records, pictures, etc. are welcomed from members and non-members. If you have seen anything unusual, please share it with us. It is important to have your nature observations recorded so that others may learn from them. All contributions should be sent by mail to Dan McAskill, Newsletter Editor, Nature PEI (NHSPEI), 368 Brazel Road, Donagh, PEI C1B 0T9 or via E-mail to [email protected] The next deadline for articles, sightings, or other newsletter information is Sept. 10, 2020. Pictures: Thanks to Hélène Blanchet, Vanessa Bonnyman, Don Cheverie, Sharon Clark, Barry Cottam, Rosemary Curley, Kimberly Dawn, Daphne Davey, Elizabeth Deblois, Victoria Doan, Isabel Fitzpatrick, Bob Harding, John Klymko; Kassandra Lynn, Jeanne Maki, Donna Martin, Anna MacDonald, Brett MacKinnon, Troy McMullin, Dale Murchison, Nicole Murtagh, Nellissa Stalenhoef, N.B. Museum, Roberta Palmer, and John te Raa for their photos. Reprinting: Editors of other newsletters and teachers wishing to copy classroom materials are welcome to reprint articles from the Island Naturalist (except when copyrighted). Due acknowledgment must be provided to the Island Naturalist, the author and illustrator. Web page: www.NaturePEI.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NaturePEI Nature PEI gratefully acknowledges support from the Department of Education and Life Long Learning which enables distribution of newsletters to schools and libraries desiring it. The Society has representation on the board of the Island Nature Trust. The Society is a registered charity and a non-profit organization (Part 2, PEI Companies Act). Tax receipts are issued for donations and these funds are used to further the Society’s work. Cover Illustration: Hard to see in the photos, but wasps have two pairs of wings, whereas flies only have one. Also notice that the wasp has a very narrow waist (the connection between the thorax and abdomen; an adaptation that allows the abdomen more range of motion - handy when you're trying to deliver a sting), whereas the fly has a thicker waist. See article on flies on page 6 (John Klymko) 2 NATURE PEI NEWS: By Barbara Dylla In light of the COVID-19 pandemic announcement on March 11, and the first confirmed case on Prince Edward Island on March 14, programs planned for the spring months were suspended and no meetings will be held until the restrictions on public gatherings related are lifted by the Chief Public Health Officer. Nevertheless, the Executive Council remained busy with a range of nature advocacy activities and initiatives related to its mandate. C PEI Science Fair: This event, scheduled for April 1st at the University of Prince Edward Island, was cancelled because of COVID-19. It will be held again in 2021. Nature PEI’s 2020 contribution to the prize fund will be retained for te 2021 PEI Science Fair. C Provincial lichen emblem: Voting for an official lichen emblem for PEI began on April 11 on Nature PEI’s website and by mail. The results are provided in an article on page 9. A manuscript on a national lichen symbols for Canada will be submitted to the Canadian Field-Naturalist. C Deer fly, horse fly and flower fly collections: Nature PEI purchased 2000 entomological pins for a summer insect collecting project involving and flower flies, deer flies, and horse flies. This citizen science project is being led by John Klymko, zoologist at the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre (see article on page 6). C Revocation of land in Royalty Oaks Natural Area: In response to the Government of PEI’s request for comments on the proposed destruction of part of the designated Royalty Oaks Natural Area in Charlottetown (East Royalty), Nature PEI submitted comments objecting to this proposal to the Natural Areas Protection Act Technical Advisory Committee on May 21st. It also sent these comments to the Guardian (published as a Guest Opinion: Protect Royalty Oaks Natural Area on May 29th and the Eastern Graphic “Province must ramp up protection of natural areas” on May 28th. C House Spiders: Nature PEI executive member Robert Harding stared top billing with Charlottetown resident Keith Burgoyne on May 24 on CBC’s Morning Show about finding spiders indoors (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-barn-funnel-weaver-spider-1.5580261 C 2020 Bain Bird Count: With accommodation for physical distancing and other measures, Nature PEI’s Bain Bird Count was held on May 30th. See article on page 11. C PEI Forested Landscape Priority Place for Species at Risk Webinar: Nature PEI participated in this May 21st webinar. DISCOVERY OF THE FRESHWATER MUSSEL, ALEWIFE FLOATER (Utterbackiana implicata) ON PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND: By Rosemary Curley, Annie Paquet and Mary Sollows Until recently, only two species of freshwater mussels were known from Prince Edward Island. Clarke (1981) recorded the Eastern Pearlshell (Margaritifera margaritifera), also known as the Pearl Mussel, and the Eastern Floater (Pyganodon cataracta). The current status of Eastern Pearlshell is critically imperiled on PEI, while the Eastern Floater is considered to be secure (CESCC 2016). Kate Bredin, who worked in the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre in 2005, strongly suspected that another mussel, the Alewife Floater (Utterbackiana implicata, formerly Anodonta implicata) was overlooked in PEI. Nevertheless, its documented Canadian distribution is restricted to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick (NB) and Quebec (QC) where the population is fragmented in the St. Lawrence River and a few of its tributaries (Paquet et al. 2018). The species is in the process of being designated under Quebec's Loi sur les espèces menaces ou vulnérables (Species at Risk Act). The life cycle of unionid bivalves is dependent on fish, with the larval mussel, known as a glochidium, spending part of its life on the gills, body or fins of a fish to develop. Each species of freshwater mussel has its specific fish host(s). The Alewife Floater is known to parasitize the Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), the Blue-backed Herring (Alosa aestivalis) and the American Shad (Alosa sapidissima). Glochidia develop further in the host, and then drop off wherever the fish host is located to begin their juvenile lives. Interestingly, Alewives occur in the Restigouche and Kedgwick Rivers in NB-QC and in the Matapédia River in QC, but the Alewife Floater has not been documented in those rivers so far. Few surveys has been conducted in these rivers and further 3 investigation is needed (Martel et al 2010; Paquet et al 2018). On September