** Nice to hear of AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS [Bruant hudsonien] arriving. Dave
Miller noted his first 2 of the season on Friday morning at the Salisbury Park.
** The advance of winter birds continues. Dave
Christie noted his first PINE GROSBEAK
[Durbec des sapins], a lone individual that arrived for a brief stop at
his Mary’s Point yard in active vocalization on Wednesday. Dave also noted a
flock of SNOW BUNTINGS [Bruant des
neiges] swarming about the Mary’s Point marsh grasses. From recent
reports, it’s looking like we’ll have lots of Snow Buntings in NB this
winter.
** Marlene Hickman leaves comments on her
Dorchester feeder yard. She comments activity has increased over the past week
with a COMMON GRACKLE [Quiscale
bronzé], 6 to 8 MOURNING DOVES
[Tourterelle triste], several BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES [Mésange à tête noire], BLUE JAYS [Geai bleu] draining the
feeders and AMERICAN CROWS [Corneille
d’Amérique], and a female HAIRY
WOODPECKER [Pic chevelu]. The BOHEMIAN WAXWING [Jaseur boréal] flock was back on Thursday
morning. The CROWS have taken a liking to her suet feeder; one will pick off
pieces and drop them down to 3 other CROWS waiting on the ground for the booty
to drop. Three RING-NECKED PHEASANTS
[Faisan de Colchide] have found cucumbers very interesting in her garden
patch splitting them open and feeding on the seeds.
** Brian Stone is in Dartmouth at the moment and
got a photo of another WESTERN CONIFER SEED BUG at Shubie Park on a bridge
railing there. Brian’s photo shows it from a different angle than the one that
I photographed yesterday in Moncton. Brian also got a photo of a late flying
CADDISFLY, some species of which can fly very late in the season. The long
projection on the front of the insect are antennae, not a proboscis as
the adult fly does not feed.
** It’s last call to the Nature Moncton bird
feeding workshop on for tomorrow, Sunday afternoon, at the Tankville School,
1665 Elmwood Drive, from 1 to 4 pm. Participants are asked to bring along Bird
Feeders they may have found useful as a “show and tell”, along with bird
feeding ideas to share. Your favourite binoculars and bird guides are suggested
as well.
** This week’s Sky at a Glance, courtesy of Curt
Nason is added to this transcription. Again reminding of the Royal Canadian
Astronomy Society meeting in Sackville this weekend with lots of associated
activities going on.
This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, November 7 – November 14
Small constellations tend to get overlooked unless, like Delphinus the Dolphin, they have fairly bright stars or an eye-catching pattern. Aries the Ram and cleverly named Triangulum aren’t quite as pretty as Delphinus but they do get noticed. Okay, Triangulum isn’t pretty but it is acute, situated beneath the legs of Andromeda in mid-evening. Below it is brighter Aries, which resembles a triangle that someone stomped on.
Small constellations tend to get overlooked unless, like Delphinus the Dolphin, they have fairly bright stars or an eye-catching pattern. Aries the Ram and cleverly named Triangulum aren’t quite as pretty as Delphinus but they do get noticed. Okay, Triangulum isn’t pretty but it is acute, situated beneath the legs of Andromeda in mid-evening. Below it is brighter Aries, which resembles a triangle that someone stomped on.
In mythology, the god Hermes sent a flying, golden ram to rescue a prince who was being sacrificed to end a famine. The prince showed his gratitude by slaughtering the ram and giving its fleece to a man in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The Golden Fleece later became the quest of Jason and the Argonauts. Over 2000 years ago the Sun was in Aries on the first day of spring, and the vernal equinox is still referred to as the First Point of Aries despite it having moved into the constellation Pisces long ago.
Triangulum is not associated with an exciting tale from mythology but at times it had been regarded as a tribute to both the Nile Delta and the island of Sicily. I use the tip of the triangle as a reference for locating the Triangulum Galaxy, also called M33. It is almost halfway and a tad to the right of a line from the tip to orange Mirach in Andromeda. Smaller and slightly more distant than the nearby Andromeda Galaxy (M31), this face-on spiral galaxy is dim but still attainable with binoculars in a dark sky.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:08 am and sunset will occur at 4:57 pm, giving 9 hours, 49 minutes of daylight (7:11 am and 5:04 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:18 am and set at 4:49 pm, giving 9 hours, 31 minutes of daylight (7:21 am and 4:56 pm in Saint John).
The Moon forms a tight triangle with Venus and Mars today and it is new on Wednesday.
Venus, Mars and Jupiter are separating after a month of togetherness in the morning sky. By the end of the week Jupiter is 10 degrees upper right, and Venus 5 degrees lower left, of Mars. Mercury is now out of the picture, rising just 15 minutes before the Sun midweek. Saturn appears low in the southwest in twilight, setting an hour after the Sun.
Be on the lookout for the occasional fireball this week. Two meteor showers originating from the direction of Taurus peak in the first two weeks of November. The South and North Taurids do not produce a lot of meteors but they tend to be brighter due to the larger pebbles shed by Comet Encke. Your chances of seeing one are better after midnight when Taurus is at its highest in the sky. A fireball is a meteor that is brighter than Venus.
If you are in the Sackville area this weekend then plan on attending the astronomy events at Mount Allison University, hosted by the university and RASC NB. There will be public observing at the twin campus observatories from 9 pm to midnight Friday and Saturday (weather permitting), and three astronomy talks in Dunn 113 on Saturday starting at 1pm.
Questions? Contact me at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
CADDIS FLY. NOV. 05, 2015. BRIAN STONE
WESTERN CONIFER SEED BUG 01. NOV. 05, 2015. BRIAN STONE
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
Nature Moncton
