NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
February 21, 2025
Nature Moncton members as well as any
naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond are invited to share their photos
and descriptions of recent nature sightings to build a fresh (almost) daily
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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols
**Hip hip hooray!! The peregrine falcon nest box is
towering over the City of Moncton on the summit of Assumption Place as of noon
Thursday, inviting occupancy.
Brian Stone joined Nelson Poirier and Fred Richards on the roof of the Assumption building in Moncton on Thursday morning, along with the excellent roofing crew of Gilles and Gabriel Martin from A-Teck Roofing to install the new Nature Moncton peregrine falcon nest box. The weather was fine and the wind was low; the only problem was hard, crusty, icy snow that needed to be broken up and shoveled away before installation could begin. The work went smoothly and halfway through the procedure, the resident peregrine falcon pair showed up to check out their new home and called out encouragement to get the work done quickly. The webcam will be moved into place as soon as temperatures allow it to be dislodged from the ice, which will hopefully be next week.
(Editors note: this project has taken the coordination of
a lot of folks to make it happen. A special shout-out goes to Fred Richards for
the construction of the replacement nest box and Fred’s ability to come up with
last-minute alterations to let Thursday happen. The skills of seasoned roofers
Gilles and Gabriel Martin, with their interest in doing things right, were very
valued, as was the skill of George Thompson, who came up with innovative ideas
to make a nest camera workable from such a perilous location.
It is now hoped the most important players of all, the
peregrine falcon pair, will find those efforts to their satisfaction!)
After the project was completed, Brian visited Fred
Richards and was pleased to spot a 22° solar halo hovering above his
house.
**Georges Brun watched the action from the Landing near
Chateau Moncton. The bright sun made photographs a challenge from that
vantage point.
Georges comments lots of ducks were in the water opposite
the real Bend of the river. For over a month, there have been common
mergansers as far upriver near the Salisbury train trestle to the
lower reaches towards the Trans Aqua outlet. The colder it got, the lower
in the system the mergansers were feeding.
**Jane LeBlanc caught one of her golden-crowned
kinglets enjoying the peanut butter she had put out for the nuthatches and
chickadees.
**Brian and Annette Stone share more photos from their
walk in Mill Creek Park in Riverview on Wednesday afternoon. They saw hundreds
of snowshoe hare tracks with many other tracks mixed in at times that
might have been fox or coyote and also some very tiny rodent tracks. The
scenery in the park and along the adjacent trails at the beaver dam and frozen
pond was excellent, and the Sun added a colourful show of cloud iridescence
to top off the show. On the way home, some very interesting cloud formations glided
across the sky, but the photographer was driving and only managed one quick
photo at a red light stop.
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2025 February 22
– March 1
Two of the largest constellations are seen in the southwest and southeast
around mid-evening. Eridanus the River flows from Rigel in Orion’s foot to the
lower right, and then makes a sharp curve to the left before disappearing below
the horizon. It doesn’t end there; it extends at least the same distance
southward to terminate at Achernar, the ninth brightest star in the sky.
Achernar, of course, means “the river’s end.” The star near Rigel is named Cursa,
which means “the footstool.” In terms of square degrees of sky, Eridanus
is the sixth largest constellation. It has been associated with many earthly
rivers but most often with the Po River in Italy, which the Greeks called
Eridanos.
Hydra the female Water Snake rises out of the southeast, with its head reaching
as high as Orion’s shoulders. A smaller constellation called Hydrus the male
Water Snake is near Achernar and is never seen from New Brunswick. Hydra is the
largest of the 88 constellations and one of the longest. If you consider the
horizon as the ocean surface, and if you have all night, you can picture Hydra
leaping completely out of the water and disappearing in a giant belly flop. Its
brightest star, Alphard the “solitary one,” just makes the top 50 in terms of
brightness. In mythology the Hydra was a multi-headed creature slain by
Hercules as his second labour.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:09 and sunset will occur at 5:55, giving
10 hours, 46 minutes of daylight (7:13 and 6:02 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 6:57 and set at 6:05, giving 11 hours, 8 minutes of
daylight (7:01 and 6:11 in Saint John).
The Moon is new on Thursday, appearing as a
slim crescent below Mercury on Friday and near Venus next Saturday. Later this
week Venus is stationary, after which it begins a four-week plummet toward
inferior conjunction. With Saturn sinking sunward and Mercury
climbing in the west, they cross paths in Monday evening twilight. Jupiter
is highest in evening twilight, and Sunday evening its moon Europa
disappears behind the planet at 7:35, then reappears at 10:12 only to disappear
in shadow three minutes later. Meanwhile, Io is occulted at 10:26. Mars is
highest around 9 pm this week, resuming its eastward motion against the stars.
Rural observers can try to see the wedge of the zodiacal light toward the west
about 60 to 90 minutes after sunset.
Tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm on the
YouTube channel and Facebook page of Astronomy by the Bay.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
