Nature Moncton Nature News: Sept 15 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, September 15, 2017 (Friday)

Please advise editor at nelson@nb.sympatico.ca if any errors are noted in wording or photo labeling.

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca

Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

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** Stu Tingley offers some features to help pick out a LITTLE GULL [Mouette pygmée] from a BONAPARTE'S GULL [Mouette de Bonaparte] with the specimen that has been around the Bouctouche lagoon as an example. Stu comments that the Little Gull at the Bouctouche lagoon is somewhat stockier and smaller than the Bonaparte’s Gulls, and 95% of the time it appears neckless. The head pattern is slightly different with a vague, darker patch at the rear of the crown. The only black visible on the wing tips is on the underside of the outermost primaries on the wing which is facing away. Stu shares a documentary photo of the Little Gull with two Bonaparte’s Gulls he took on September 9^th.

** Brian Stone was in Centennial Park on Thursday to get some photos that included a DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT [Cormoran à aigrettes] on shore to note those huge webbed feet, a pair of HOODED MERGANSERS in non-breeding plumage. Note the golden eye on the adult male, the dark eye on the female and orange on the lower mandible of the female. Brian also got a NORTHERN LEOPARD FROG [Grenouille léopard], the full ripe berries of JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT, a SLENDER SPREADWING DAMSELFLY [Leste élancé], a male WOOD DUCK [Canard branchu] in eclipse plumage, and a pair of SPOTTED SPREADWING DAMSELFLIES [Leste Tardif].

** I’m sharing a few of my own recent observations. The mushroom season seems to be coming on. I’m attaching a photo of over and under of RED GILLED CORT, a very common forest species and readily recognized with the reddish gills. A few new-to-this-year to me items at the moth light: Wednesday night there was a WHITE UNDERWING MOTH. This is a larger moth and the photo shows the very contrasting black underwing with white band when the wings are opened. Also the MAPLE SPANWORM MOTHS were abundant, doing their dead leaf imitation.

** This week’s Sky-at-a-Glance is included in this edition, courtesy of Curt Nason.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, September 16 – September 23

From late summer into autumn, the Greek tale of Perseus and Andromeda
plays out on the eastern stage of the night sky each evening. Princess
Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, is chained to the
rocky coast of Ethiopia as a sacrifice to a vicious sea monster,
portrayed by the constellation Cetus the Whale. Our hero Perseus, on his
way home aboard Pegasus after beheading Medusa, rescues the princess and
wins her unchained hand in matrimony.

The constellation Andromeda consists of two lines of stars stretching
toward Perseus from a common point. That point is the bright star
Alpheratz, which is officially Andromeda’s head but it also forms one
corner of the Great Square of Pegasus. The bottom line of stars is more
prominent, containing the orange star Mirach and ending with Almach,
which resolves as a pretty double star in a small scope.

The highlight of the constellation is M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, the
nearest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way. A telescope is not required
to see this. It looks great in binoculars, and in a rural area on a
cloudless night you can see it with the naked eye as a smudge of light.
Place Mirach at the bottom of your binocular view and perhaps raise it a
bit to see a slightly dimmer star in the upper line of Andromeda.
Continue up about the same distance to another star and find the fuzzy
expanse of the Andromeda Galaxy nearby. A small telescope will show two
other galaxies, M32 and M110, in the same field of view. M31 is 2.5
million light years distant and heading our way. We will have a
spectacularly starry sky in a few billion years.

This Week in the Solar System

Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:58 am and sunset will occur at
7:28 pm, giving 12 hours, 30 minutes of daylight (7:04 am and 7:32 pm in
Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:07 am and set at 7:14
pm, giving 12 hours, 7 minutes of daylight (7:12 am and 7:19 pm in Saint
John). The Sun crosses the equator at 5:02 pm on Friday, September 22 to
begin the autumn season in the northern hemisphere.

The Moon is new on Wednesday, making midweek a great time for seeking
out those faint fuzzy objects with a telescope or binoculars. Jupiter
sets around 8:30 this week, followed by Saturn a few hours later. It
will be worthwhile to step outside around 6 am on Monday for a scenic
view of Venus, Regulus, the crescent Moon, Mars and Mercury in a line
about ten degrees long. Mercury appears very near to Mars this Saturday
as it heads sunward, and Venus drops near Regulus on Wednesday.

The RASC NB star party at Fundy National Park takes place September 15
and 16 at the South Chignecto campground, and their telescopes will be
set up on September 22 and 23 for the Fall Festival at Kouchibouguac
National Park. Visit the website https://rascnb.ca/ for details.

Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton