Editor & Proofreader

Editor: Nelson Poirier    Proofreader: Louise Nichols

Friday 20 September 2019

Sept 20 2019


NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, September 20, 2019 (Friday)

To view the photos mentioned in this edition go to http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca .

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by: nicholsl@eastlink.ca
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

** Daryl Doucet was able to get excellent photos of a leg-banded RING-BILLED GULL [Goéland à bec cerclé] in the Pizza Hut yard in Moncton on Wednesday.  Some sleuthing discovered this gull banded by a team lead by Professor Jean-François Giroux at the Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM).  It was banded at Iles Deslauriers in the St. Lawrence River on June 18th, 2019.  This is the first report they have received on this gull, and Professor Giroux would like to send all appreciation to Daryl Doucet for noting and taking the time to get good photos to positively identify it.  Looks like the Pizza Hut in Moncton may prepare more flavourful morsels than those in Montreal!  Daryl’s photos are attached.

** Brian Stone and I paid a visit to Petit-Cap on Thursday.  They’re surely are lots of shorebirds still with us and lots of confusing plumages.  There were a surprising number of BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER [Pluvier argenté] and all in juvenile or basic plumage, along with many SANDERLINGS [Bécasseau sanderling], LEAST SANDPIPERS [Bécasseau minuscule] and SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS [Bécasseau semipalmé], many SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS [Pluvier semipalmé], WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS [Bécasseau à croupion blanc] and a few we have to work on yet.  Several HORNED LARK [Alouette hausse-col] were roaming the dune, and several CASPIAN TERN [Sterne caspienne] were present.  A freshly expired SAND LANCE minnow on shore gave us a chance to look closely at this much sought after nutrition-packed prey, especially for terns.  Dorion gave the dunes a severe battering, but shorebirds continue to be plentiful at this special site.  When we arrived, we saw a group down the shore with scopes, so left our scope back.  It turned out to be the Les Amis de la Nature Thursday group which was great to meet up with, but they moved on with their scopes to their next stop.  We should have returned for our scope as this is such a necessary tool for shorebirding, so possibly missed some good species.  One surprise when we started to look at photos at home was the number of leg-banded birds with bands that could be read.  There were at least 11 which Brian got, and I have not had a chance to search through my own yet.

** On a more local note, the 3 female HOODED MERGANSER [Harle couronné] that continue to stay feeding in the creek off Gorge Rd., leading to Mapleton Park have photos attached today that were missed yesterday.  Brian saw them there on Tuesday.

** This week’s Sky-at-a-Glance is added to this edition, courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2019 September 21 – September 28
Autumn has arrived, and dedicated stargazers are happy to have the longer observing time afforded by earlier sunsets. The summer constellations appear reluctant to move on, however; emerging from twilight in nearly the same place each night because the earlier darkness masks that they rise four minutes sooner each day. But move on they do, and by mid-evening the two groups of autumn constellations lord over us.

Perseus sits below W-shaped Cassiopeia in the northeast these evenings. Cepheus, the king of ancient Ethiopia, is a house-shaped constellation fenced within his wife Cassiopeia, Cygnus and the North Star. The feet of Princess Andromeda are below the W of Cassiopeia, and her head is at the tail end of Pegasus the winged horse. The asterism called the Great Square of Pegasus rises as a large diamond, a harbinger of the baseball post season. Rounding out the mythological tale is Cetus, playing the role of a ferocious sea monster that is stoned, in a manner of speaking, by Perseus in his rescue of Andromeda. Cetus is actually a whale, and segues to the second group: the water constellations.

To the left of the Sagittarius Teapot we see the large chevron of Capricornus the sea goat, representing the goat-boy flautist Pan who didn’t completely morph into a fish when he tried to escape monstrous Typhon. Above and left is the source of all this water; Aquarius, the water bearing servant of the Olympians. Below him is the southern fish, Piscis Austrinus, and further east we have Aphrodite and Eros as Pisces the fishes. Cetus swims below them, and well above Capricornus we see Delphinus the dolphin trying to leap back into summer.

This Week in the Solar System    
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:04 am and sunset will occur at 7:19 pm, giving 12 hours, 15 minutes of daylight (7:09 am and 7:24 pm in Saint John).  Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:13 am and set at 7:05 pm, giving 11 hours, 52 minutes of daylight (7:18 am and 7:10 pm in Saint John). The Sun crosses the equator Monday at 4:50 am – the autumnal equinox – heading south for winter.

The Moon is at third quarter this Saturday, and it is new and at perigee next Saturday. Jupiter and Saturn remain as the favourite targets in the early evening, but after twilight Jupiter is getting too low for steady atmospheric observing. Venus can be seen with difficulty in binoculars very low in the west 15 minutes after sunset, with Mercury a binocular field to its left.

The provincial astronomy club, RASC NB, meets in the UNB Fredericton Forestry-Earth Sciences building at 1 pm on September 21. All are welcome.

Questions? Contact Curt Nason at
nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton



Autumn welcome


BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER AND LEAST SANDPIPERS. SEPT 19, 2019. NELSON POIRIER

BONAPARTE'S GULL. SEPT. 19, 2019. BRIAN STONE

CASPIAN TERN. SEPT. 19, 2019.. BRIAN STONE

GREATER YELLOWLEGS. SEPT. 19, 2019. BRIAN STONE

HOODED MERGANSER (FEMALE). SEPT. 17, 2019.  BRIAN STONE

HOODED MERGANSER (FEMALE). SEPT. 17, 2019.  BRIAN STONE

HORNED LARK. SEPT. 19, 2019.. BRIAN STONE

LEAST SANDPIPER (LEG BANDED). SEPT. 19, 2019.  BRIAN STONE

LEAST SANDPIPER (LEG BANDED). SEPT. 19, 2019.  BRIAN STONE

RING-BILLED GULL (LEG BANDED). SEPT 18, 2019. DARYL DOUCET

RING-BILLED GULL (LEG BANDED). SEPT 18, 2019. DARYL DOUCET

RING-BILLED GULL (LEG BANDED). SEPT 18, 2019. DARYL DOUCET

RUDDY TURNSTONES. SEPT. 19, 2019. BRIAN STONE

SAND LANCE. SEPT. 19, 2019. BRIAN STONE

SANDERLING. SEPT. 19, 2019.. BRIAN STONE

SEMIPALMATED PLOVER. SEPT. 19, 2019.. BRIAN STONE

WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER IN NON-BREEDING PLUMAGE AND SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER (LEG BANDED). SEPT 19, 2019. NELSON POIRIER

WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER IN NON-BREEDING PLUMAGE. SEPT 19, 2019. NELSON POIRIER