Nature Moncton Nature News: January 3 2015

**It's a great time of year to watch for some of Jack Frost's

[Bonhomme Hiver] amazing creations. Kerrie Tait shares some photos she

took while walking Caribou Plain Trail at Fundy National Park on

December 31st with the outdoor temperature at -19°C, noting some of

the mammal burrows' doorways beautifully decorated.

**Ron Steeves comments the very large group of Ducks continues to be

present in the fields just west of the Allison Church on the south

side of the Salisbury Road. Dave Christie and Ralph White mentioned

this large group on the Chrismas Bird Count. Ron warns that it can be

a challenging place to stop, with the traffic. Ron also comments he

had a flock of 71 Redpolls [Sizerin] drop by his yard on December 3rd,

but they have not returned. Also, a group of 35 EVENING GROSBEAKS

[Gros-bec errant] are circulating in the area. Ron also had a

BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD [Vacher à tête brune] come by with MOURNING DOVES

[Tourterelle triste] on Friday.

**It is pleasantly surprising to hear of the number of bird feeder

yards hosting Evening Grosbeaks recently. Kevin Renton reports they

had a flock of approximately 50 that are becoming patrons at their

Stilesville feeder yard, along with a good selection of regulars.

**Brian Stone took a photo of what appeared to be two BLACK DUCKS

[Canard noir] at Mapleton Park recently, however, a white border to

the speculum is showing to suggest MALLARD [Canard colvert] genes.

Dave Christie comments one has the greenish bill of a Black Duck but

Mallard-like plumage, while the other has a female Mallard beak but

the rest of its plumage is dark for a Mallard. Dave comments there is

much more variety in these hybrid crosses than there was 20-30 years

ago.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, January 2 – 10

Some daily sky sights among the ever-changing Moon, planets, and stars.

Venus and Mercury are just 2½° apart now, low in the afterglow of sunset in the southwest. Brilliant Venus is on top. They're drawing closer together and will appear closest next week.

On Monday, January 5, the bright Moon forms a curving line this evening with Castor and Pollux to its upper left and Procyon to its lower right.

Sirius and Procyon in the balance: From Procyon, look far to the right for brighter Sirius, the Dog Star, sparkling low in the east-southeast after dusk. Procyon will be higher.

On Tuesday, January 6, watch lower left of the Moon for Jupiter and then Regulus to rise in early evening.

By Wednesday, January 7, you can finally see Comet Lovejoy in a moonlight-free sky again — if you look within an hour or so after dark. The comet is closest to Earth tonight, and it's also entering its brightest two weeks at 5th or 4th magnitude. But you'll have to know exactly the correct point in the sky to examine!

The waning gibbous Moon rises about an hour after darkness is complete. Brilliant Jupiter shines to its left. Although they look close together, Jupiter is 1,660 times farther away than the Moon — and 40 times larger in diameter.

Catch Mercury and Venus shining closest together this as twilight fades on Saturday evening the 10th. Little Mars looks on from their upper left.

On Thursday, January 8, Mercury and Venus are within 1° of each other, low in the southwest in evening twilight, from now through next Monday. Think photo opportunity!

Mercury, Venus, and Mars are all on the far side of the Sun from us now.

In this coldest time of the year, the dim Little Dipper hangs straight down from Polaris after dusk as if from a nail on the cold north wall of the sky.

Saturday, January 10

On Saturday, January 10, Venus and Mercury are at their closest together low in the sunset, 0.7° apart. Look for them above the southwest horizon about 45 minutes after sundown.

Bright Capella high overhead, and bright Rigel in Orion's foot, are at almost the same right ascension — so they cross your sky’s meridian at almost the same time (around 11 p.m. now. This means that whenever Capella passes its very highest, Rigel will always mark true south over your landscape.

On Saturday, January 3, the sun rose at 8:01 a.m. and will set at 4:45 p.m. giving 8 hours 43 minutes of daylight hours. On Saturday, January 10, the sun will rise at 7:59 a.m. and set at 4:54 p.m. to give 8 hours 54 minutes of daylight hours (These values are for Moncton, New Brunswick).

This Week's Planet Roundup

Mercury is creeping up to a close pairing with Venus; look for them in low the southwest in the afterglow of sunset. Mercury is magnitude –0.8; Venus shines 17 times brighter at magnitude –3.9.

Mars (magnitude +1.1) glows in the southwest to the upper left of Venus and Mercury. It sets around 9 p.m.

Jupiter (magnitude –2.4) rises in the east-northeast around 9 p.m. About 45 minutes later, fainter Regulus (magnitude +1.4) rises below it. By dawn they shine in the west — with Regulus now to Jupiter's upper left.

To view the photos mentioned in this edition go to http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca/. To see them in higher resolution if the original photo was taken that way, click on the Nature Moncton Photo bucket option at the Blogger site. In Photo Bucket, hovering on the photo will show the Photo Credit.

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca