** Don Pellerin visited Andrew MacFarlane's feeder yard at 19 Jolicure Rd.
on Thursday to find the female SUMMER TANAGER [Tangara vermillon] very much
still present and actively feeding and moving about the yard. Don also saw what
he felt was a GOLDEN EAGLE [Aigle royal] off High Marsh Rd. It was cloudy
conditions and the bird was a long ways off, but Don felt fairly confident on
his identification. Don saw a Golden Eagle at the same site on December 9th,
2014, and Hank Scarth reported seeing one on the High Marsh Rd. earlier this
week, so it's surely a bird to watch for.
** The Cardwell Farms Composting site at Penobsquis continues to attract
many bird patrons. Dave Christie drove by this site in the morning on route to
Saint John and suspected something had disturbed the birds as the sky was filled
with BALD EAGLES [Pygargue à tête blanche], RAVENS [Grand corbeau] and AMERICAN
CROWS [Corneille d'Amérique]. Dave estimated there were 40 Bald Eagles, the
majority of them immature birds. When he passed by on return in the afternoon,
not a bird was to be seen in the air. Dave Miller and I visited this site last
winter, and in addition to what Dave mentions, there were many GULLS [Goéland]
at the site as well.
** Georges Brun paid a visit to Riverview Marsh on Wednesday. Waterfowl in
some of the still quite open ponds were NORTHERN PINTAIL [Canard pilet],
GREEN-WINGED TEAL [Sarcelle d'hiver], and a very sharply-attired WHITE-WINGED
SCOTER [Macreuse brune] was accompanying the Pintails. A GREAT BLUE HERON
[Grand Héron] flew over. Georges comments he saw no small birds at all on the
marsh.
** We have several species of bumblebees in New Brunswick. Rheal Vienneau
got a photo of one in the cold of Saturday morning, Nov. 14 in his Dieppe
driveway. David McCorquodale identified it as the species Bombus
impatiens, but could not see clearly enough if the wings were frayed or the
width of the hind tibia to say whether it was a potential queen, aka "gyne," or
not.
** I came across a Lady Beetle that showed only two dark spots, one on the
far middle edge of each elytra. Brian Stone did his magic to photograph it to
show it was one the more uncommon forms of the ASIAN MULTICOLORED LADY BEETLE,
which usually shows 19 spots but can be variable from no spots at all to only a
few as this specimen shows. The pronotum which does not vary as much shows the
"W" or "M" characteristic marking.
** This week's Sky-at-a-Glance is added to this transcription courtesy of
Curt Nason.
This Week’s Sky at a
Glance, November 21 – November 28
At the end of civil twilight a bright star can be seen low in the northeast. This is Capella, the sixth brightest in the night sky and the brightest star that never sets in New Brunswick. It forms the left shoulder or arm of the pentagonal constellation Auriga the Charioteer, which rises below Perseus and to the left of Taurus. Capella translates as ‘the goat star” and in Greek mythology it was associated with the goat Amalthea that suckled the baby Zeus. Zeus was hidden at birth by his mother Rhea to avoid the fate of his siblings – being eaten by their father Cronus so that he would not be overthrown by his son, as prophesized. Near Capella is a compact triangle of stars nicknamed The Kids, representing baby goats. Some pictorial star maps show Auriga driving a chariot with the three baby goats on his arm and with the she goat at his shoulder; the mythological equivalent of texting while driving.
At the opposite corner of Auriga is the star Elnath, which actually belongs to Taurus as the tip of the bull’s horn. Stargazers often have their telescopes or binoculars pointed toward Auriga for its line of three star clusters, numbers 36, 37 and 38 in the Messier catalogue of fuzzy objects that aren’t comets. Just to be confusing, M36 lies between the other two. M37 lies just outside the left side of the charioteer, M36 just inside, and M38 a little farther toward the middle of the constellation. I can nearly get all three in the view of wide-field binoculars. A scope will reveal many stars in each cluster.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:28 am and sunset will occur at 4:42 pm, giving 9 hours, 14 minutes of daylight (7:30 am and 4:49 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:37 am and set at 4:37 pm, giving 9 hours of daylight (7:39 am and 4:45 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is full on Wednesday, November 25. This is the Beaver Moon, when traps were set in a last chance effort to get pelts before the winter freeze. On Sunday Uranus is within a binocular view to the upper right of the Moon as darkness settles. On Thursday morning the Moon passes in front of (occults) the bright star Aldebaran around 06:40, and the star reappears about 50 minutes later when they are close to setting. You should use binoculars or a scope to see Aldebaran be occulted, and seeing the reappearance will be a greater challenge that also requires a good view of a low western horizon.
By midweek Mars is about 10 degrees to the upper right of Venus and 15 degrees lower left of Jupiter in the morning sky. Mercury and Saturn are lost in the Sun’s glare.
Questions? Contact me at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Attached: Auriga around 8 pm (Stellarium
At the end of civil twilight a bright star can be seen low in the northeast. This is Capella, the sixth brightest in the night sky and the brightest star that never sets in New Brunswick. It forms the left shoulder or arm of the pentagonal constellation Auriga the Charioteer, which rises below Perseus and to the left of Taurus. Capella translates as ‘the goat star” and in Greek mythology it was associated with the goat Amalthea that suckled the baby Zeus. Zeus was hidden at birth by his mother Rhea to avoid the fate of his siblings – being eaten by their father Cronus so that he would not be overthrown by his son, as prophesized. Near Capella is a compact triangle of stars nicknamed The Kids, representing baby goats. Some pictorial star maps show Auriga driving a chariot with the three baby goats on his arm and with the she goat at his shoulder; the mythological equivalent of texting while driving.
At the opposite corner of Auriga is the star Elnath, which actually belongs to Taurus as the tip of the bull’s horn. Stargazers often have their telescopes or binoculars pointed toward Auriga for its line of three star clusters, numbers 36, 37 and 38 in the Messier catalogue of fuzzy objects that aren’t comets. Just to be confusing, M36 lies between the other two. M37 lies just outside the left side of the charioteer, M36 just inside, and M38 a little farther toward the middle of the constellation. I can nearly get all three in the view of wide-field binoculars. A scope will reveal many stars in each cluster.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:28 am and sunset will occur at 4:42 pm, giving 9 hours, 14 minutes of daylight (7:30 am and 4:49 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:37 am and set at 4:37 pm, giving 9 hours of daylight (7:39 am and 4:45 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is full on Wednesday, November 25. This is the Beaver Moon, when traps were set in a last chance effort to get pelts before the winter freeze. On Sunday Uranus is within a binocular view to the upper right of the Moon as darkness settles. On Thursday morning the Moon passes in front of (occults) the bright star Aldebaran around 06:40, and the star reappears about 50 minutes later when they are close to setting. You should use binoculars or a scope to see Aldebaran be occulted, and seeing the reappearance will be a greater challenge that also requires a good view of a low western horizon.
By midweek Mars is about 10 degrees to the upper right of Venus and 15 degrees lower left of Jupiter in the morning sky. Mercury and Saturn are lost in the Sun’s glare.
Questions? Contact me at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Attached: Auriga around 8 pm (Stellarium
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
ASIAN MULTICOLORED LADY BEETLE. NOV. 19, 2015. BRIAN STONE
ASIAN MULTICOLORED LADY BEETLE. NOV. 19, 2015. BRIAN STONE
Auriga
BUMBLEBEE (BOMBUS IMPATIENS).NOV 14, 2015.RHEAL VIENNEAU
GREEN-WINGED TEAL (M) NOV 19 2015 GEORGES BRUN (2)
NORTHERN PINTAIL (M-F) NOV 19 2015 GEORGES BRUN (4)
WHITE-WINGED SCOTER (M) NOV 19 2015 GEORGES BRUN (1)
