Nature Moncton Nature News: Sept 6 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, September 6, 2019 (Friday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca

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

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** Aldo Dorio photographed a GREAT EGRET [Grande Aigrette] that dropped by Hay Island on Thursday. It does appear to be wary, so assumedly it had just arrived. There seems like a surprising number of Great Egret reports this year in New Brunswick, or else they’re moving around a lot. The Hay Island egret was seen behind a new house under construction on a roadway into the park.

** A juvenile RUFF [Combattant varié] was reported by Jolande St-Pierre and Rosemonde Duguay on Thursday evening at Hay Island -- another very special sighting for Hay Island.

** Aldo also got a few different views of a RED-EYED VIREO [Viréo aux yeux rouges]. The VICEROY BUTTERFLY [Vice-roi] seems to doing very well during its second brood. Aldo got another one at Hay Island on Thursday.

Marguerite Winsor brought home a surprise caterpillar with a pot of Fall Mums from a local retail store. It appears to be one of the less common variations of the YELLOW WOOLLY BEAR caterpillar, the larval stage of the Virginian Tiger Moth.

** Stella Leblanc had a surprise visitor to one of her bird feeders when a cucumber plant climbed in to find itself very restricted as it grew larger. Stella decided to take the outer part for herself and leave the inner part for any cucumber bird connoisseurs.

** Fred Richards found a surprise when he checked out one of his Nature Moncton swallow boxes for a fall clean-out. A TREE SWALLOW [Hirondelle bicolore] family had occupied the box with the empty nest at the bottom of the box. However, a BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE [Mésange à tête noire] family obviously moved in after the swallows had fledged, and in typical chickadee fashion, went unnoticed. Their moss nest was placed over the top of the used swallow nest. The other interesting point was a low but evident number of fleas. The box had been treated with diatomaceous earth and pyrethrum in the spring. The pyrethrum has an effect on adult fleas for approximately 6 to 8 weeks to cover the swallow nesting period and the diatomaceous earth is only meant to get the immature stages, which would explain why some fleas were present. This flea species is host-specific to birds, and adults will not be killed by freezing temperatures.

Some of the garden escapees can sure add a splash of colour to most of the tiring foliage along a county road. I came across a blazing colourful patch of Phlox in prime bloom along a back road in the New Horton area on Thursday. Many gardeners may be very familiar but this clump of colour in a wild setting sure made for a sudden stop to investigate.

** This week’s Sky-at-a-Glance is added to this edition, courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason. We may have to wait until the calm after the storm to see the sky.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2019 September 7 – September 14
The constellation Capricornus is a large chevron shape that is due south around 10 pm this week. A pair of stars marks each upper corner, and both stars of the western pair are colourful wide double stars. The sea goat arises from a tale of the Olympian gods being surprised by Typhon, the most ferocious of the rival Titans. Knowing Typhon was not fond of water, the gods changed into fish and escaped to the sea. The god Pan, who was half-goat and half-man, panicked and dove in before the transformation was complete and wound up with a goat’s head and the tail of a fish.

There are four common targets for backyard telescope users near Capricornus, but only the globular cluster M30 off the east side of the chevron is officially within its borders. It is also the easiest of the targets for binoculars. The globular cluster M75 lies west of the chevron in Sagittarius, while globular cluster M72 and the four-star (literally four stars, it is not an observing highlight) asterism M73 are above in Aquarius. Nearby is the more challenging, but worth the effort, Saturn Nebula, the gaseous remnant of a dead star that somewhat resembles the ringed planet.

A few millennia ago the Sun was in Capricornus at the winter solstice, when at midday it was overhead at its most southerly point, at latitude -23.5 degrees. This is the southern border of the tropics, and it is still called the Tropic of Capricorn despite the Sun now being in Sagittarius at this time. Earth’s 25,800 year polar wobble, called the precession of the equinox, is responsible for this shift.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:46 am and sunset will occur at 7:46 pm, giving 13 hours of daylight (6:52 am and 7:50 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 6:55 am and set at 7:33 pm, giving 12 hours, 38 minutes of daylight (7:01 am and 7:37 pm in Saint John).

The Moon is in a waxing gibbous phase this weekend and it is full, the Harvest Moon, on September 14. Jupiter and Saturn share the evening spotlight with it in the constellations Ophiuchus and Sagittarius, respectively. Telescope users might see Jupiter’s Red Spot around 8:15 pm on Thursday.

The Saint John Astronomy Club meets in the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre on September 7, possibly moving to September 14 if Dorian dumps a lot of rain on this Saturday.

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

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton