**The suspected
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER that Bob and Shirley Child's is hosting was spotted at
Cathy Smith's suet feeder just down the street from the Child's, so would appear
to be sampling buffets of two spots on Court St. in Riverview. Photos still
being worked on.
**David Christie found an
interesting fish washed up on the Mary's Point beach last Friday. One called
the GOOSEFISH, AKA MONKFISH. This is a bottom dwelling fish that waves a lure
like structure to attract other smaller fish which it preys upon. The specimen
Dave came across was 15cm long but ones that he has found before range from
35-50 cm in length and can reach up to over a meter and weigh up to 25
kilograms. These larger specimens would be out in the very deep water and seldom
seen ashore. Dave got photos of his recent specimen. In one photo the lure
spine is laying flat along the center line of the head, a flap of skin at its
tip attracts small fish as food. This GOOSEFISH has a number of injuries to the
skin and both eyes, likely caused as waves pushed the dead fish up onto the
beach. In the head on photo the pale lure spine is standing erect and a darker
spine inclined a bit to the left is less easily seen behind it. The abundance of
short sharp teeth are obvious in its large mouth. A smaller fish grabbed by that
mouth probably would have very little chance of escaping.
There are so many members of
Mother Nature's underwater community that we seldom get to
see.
**The Chignecto Naturalist's Club
has arranged for Mount A physics department to give an evening presentation on
general astronomy that sounds great for amateur skywatchers like most
naturalists are. The details of the evening and storm date are added to this
transcription to mark off calendars early.
Field trip -
Saturday, January 16th, NATURE BEYOND OUR EARTH!
(Please note this is an evening gathering)
Meet at 7:00 PM
at the Mount Allison University Dunn Building at the corner of York and Salem
Streets for a glimpse of Nature Beyond Our Earth. A general astronomy talk will
cover a host of subjects including planets, moons, stars and galaxies followed
by a tour of the observatory and viewing of the night sky if conditions permit.
Storm date will be January 23rd.
Presented by the Mt. A Physics
Dept.
Nelson
Poirier,
Nature
Moncton
GOOSEFISH AKA MONKFISH.DEC 11, 2015.DAVID CHRISTIE.
GOOSEFISH AKA MONKFISH.DEC 11, 2015.DAVID CHRISTIE.
