**More apparent new arrivals at John Inman's 225 Mary's Point Road
feeder yard – his overwintering female RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD [Carouge
à
epaulettes] had a male join her in the morning, and in the afternoon
two COMMON GRACKLES [Quiscale bronzé] arrived. John has had one SONG
SPARROW [Bruant chanteur] overwintering but it swelled to three on
Wednesday.
**Dave Christie gives a second-hand report from Connie Colpitts and
Ron
Steeves, who did a stakeout at New Horton Ridge to note four
migrating
RED-TAILED HAWKS [Buse à queue rousse] and another acting like it may
have overwintered there. At Cape Enrage they saw groups of EIDERS
[Eider] out offshore in the water there.
**Norm Mulock, who has been getting a group of BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS
[Jaseur boréal] regularly to his West End Flowering Crab tree
[Pommetier ornemental] with two PINE GROSBEAKS [Durbec des sapins]
suddenly got an influx of 15 Pine Grosbeaks on Friday evening.
**Linda Banks has had a very persistent Crow [Corneille] tapping on
windows, not sure whether it's seeing its reflection as an interloper
or potential mate, or trying to ring the dinner bell. She has also
had
SNOW BUNTINGS [Plectrophane des neiges] arrive in small numbers. Her
photos show them as getting very bright in spring plumage. A female
RING-NECKED PHEASANT [Faisan de Colchide] also keeps an eye on things
from a yard tree. Linda also had a CEDAR WAXWING [Jaseur d'Amérique]
to a yard fruit tree on January 20th. Linda lives in the former
Bridgedale area of Riverview.
**Our NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD [Moqueur polyglotte] has taken a leave of
absence for some reason for the last four days, and the Bohemian
Waxwings very quickly moved in to the fruit tray, at approximately
20-25 birds. The fruit tray is well-laden with frozen grapes from the
fall, rose hips, pomegranate, blueberries, dried currants, and frozen
overripe bananas. They've suddenly decided that all is to their
liking, possibly due to the fruit not being frozen as hard as it was
earlier, or their wild larder is getting more sparse. That number of
Waxwings sure fill the fruit tray when they decide to feed all at
once.
**We've received great photos from the photographers we met on Monday
at Cardwell Farms composting site. They got great photos of Gulls
[Goéland] in feeding frenzy that is a great opportunity to look at
age
classes and species, and especially the windows (a.k.a. mirrors) on
P10 and nearby primary feathers in birds with their wings up. They
also got a nice Red-tailed Hawk in the air and lots of Eagles
[Pygargue à tête blanche] which we'll try to get age-classed for a
sharing session later.
Attached is this week’s Sky at a Glance a day
late.
This Week’s Sky
at a Glance, March 27 – April 4
On Sunday night, March 29, the Moon and
Jupiter cross the sky together. Although they look fairly near each other, looks
in astronomy are deceiving. Jupiter is almost 1,800 times farther away than the
Moon,
On Tuesday, March 31, the waxing gibbous
Moon shines beneath Regulus and the Sickle of Leo early this evening. Farther
upper right of the Moon shines bright Jupiter. By late evening, the sky rotates
to place Jupiter to the Moon's right.
On Wednesday, April 1, the coming of
April always finds Orion in the southwest at dusk, leaning over with his
three-star belt almost horizontal. The belt points left toward bright Sirius,
and to the right toward Aldebaran and, farther on, the
Pleiades.
On Saturday, April 4, the Moon will go
into its Full Phase meaning we will see it all night. Expect higher high tides
and lower low tides.
On Saturday, March 28, the sun rose at 7:05 a.m. and
will set at 7:42 p.m. giving 12 hours 36 minutes of daylight. On Saturday, April 4, the sun will rise at
6:52 a.m. and set at 7:51 p.m. to give 12 hours 59 minutes of daylight hours.
(These values are for Moncton, New Brunswick).
This Week's Planet
Roundup
Mercury
is hidden in the glare of the Sun.
Venus
(magnitude –4.0) blazes in the west during and after twilight — the unmistakable
"Evening Star." It doesn't set in the west-northwest until a good hour and a
half after complete dark. Look for the Pleiades above it, closer every day. The
little cluster will pass to Venus's right on April 10th and
11th.
Mars
(magnitude +1.4, less than 1% as bright as Venus) is gradually sinking farther
down to the lower right of Venus in twilight. It's 15° below Venus on March 27th
and 18° below it by April 3rd.
Jupiter
(magnitude –2.4) shines high in the south at dusk. It's the brightest point of
light on that side of the sky.
Saturn
(magnitude +0.3) rises around midnight
and is highest in the south in early-morning hours. Below or lower left
of Saturn, by 8°, is orange Antares, not quite as
bright.
Nelson
Poirier
Nature
Moncton
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