NATURE
MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, November 15, 2019 (Friday)
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Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
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** Karen and Jamie Burris went to the
Turtle Creek marsh on Wednesday to do some birding. When they arrived, they counted 42 AMERICAN ROBINS [Merle
d'Amérique] feeding
on Mountain Ash berries. They were very
skittish and took flight as Karen and Jamie walked the path into the
woods. While in the woods, they saw a GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET
[Roitelet à couronne dorée] and
were surprised to see a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET [Roitelet à couronne rubis] as well, being this late in the
season. On Thursday, in their backyard,
they had a NORTHERN
FLICKER [Pic flamboyant] drop
by to feed on some of their grapes.
Jamie put out their hopper bird feeder this week and they have DARK-EYED JUNCOS [Junco
ardoisé],
AMERICAN
GOLDFINCH [Chardonneret jaune],
BLUE
JAYS [Geai bleu] and
BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEES [Mésange à tête noire] as patrons so far. Really great to hear the feeder reports. The time has come.
** Jean Renton leaves a bird feeder
report from their Canaan Forks camp where they have spent a lot of time this
season. Jean comments it was fairly
quiet during the fall, but they did have regular CANADA JAYS [Mésangeai du Canada], BLUE JAYS [Geai bleu], along with DOWNY WOODPECKERS [Pic
mineur],
HAIRY
WOODPECKERS [Pic chevelu],
and PILEATED
WOODPECKERS [Grand pic],
but it is the sparrows that have appeared in the last few days that she is most
pleased to see. Jean quite suddenly has
three DARK-EYED
JUNCOS [Junco ardoisé],
two AMERICAN
TREE SPARROWS [Bruant hudsonien] and one FOX SPARROW [Bruant fauve].
The fall time window to see Fox Sparrows migrating south from their
northern breeding grounds didn’t result in many yard stops this season. Many of us have been wondering where all the
sparrows were. They suddenly seem to be
appearing in feeder yards, so possibly many of them were quite content with
what they were finding in the wild. Kevin
Renton notes a lone COMMON GRACKLE [Quiscale bronzé] seems to be quite content to stay
around their Stilesville feeder yard.
** During a lively bird feeder
presentation in Salisbury Tuesday evening, several mentioned the creative suet
feeders hand-made by Salisbury Naturalists’ club member, Carl Hawkes. Carl sells his creations at public
events. He happens to be at the Salisbury
legion tomorrow, Saturday, with his line-up for anyone wishing to take a
look. Carl’s phone number is
372-9753.
** Pat and I joined the AMERICAN TREE SPARROW
[Bruant hudsonien] landlords
on Thursday. Our first one arrived
seeming to know just where to go as if it knew the yard, so it made us wonder
if it may not have been a tenant from last year.
** This week’s Sky-at-a-Glance is included in this
edition, courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason.
This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2019 November 16 – November 23
Open
clusters, sometimes called galactic clusters, are groups of relatively young
stars (usually less than 500 million years old) that formed from the same vast
cloud of gas and dust. The Pleiades cluster (M45) in the shoulder of Taurus the
Bull is seen easily with the naked eye because it is fairly close at 440 light
years (mind you, a light year is 9.5 trillion kilometres). The V-shaped Hyades
in the face of Taurus is the closest at 150 light years, although Aldebaran at
one end of the V is actually a foreground star at a distance of 65 light years.
Many other clusters are greater than ten times farther and require binoculars
or a telescope to be seen at all, usually as a hazy patch with some individual
stars.
To the left of Taurus is a pentagram of stars marking the head, shoulders and knees of the constellation Auriga the Charioteer. One of those stars - in Auriga's right knee, with him facing us - is officially part of Taurus. Point your binoculars halfway between this star and the one in Auriga’s right shoulder. Open cluster M36 is just inside the line between the stars, and M37 is just outside. They look like fuzzy patches because, at distances of greater than 4000 light years, a telescope is required to resolve individual stars. Further inside is the diffuse open cluster M38, midway between the right shoulder and left knee. All three clusters can be seen together in wide-field binoculars
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:20 am and sunset will occur at 4:46 pm, giving 9 hours, 26 minutes of daylight (7:23 am and 4:53 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:30 am and set at 4:40 pm, giving 9 hours, 10 minutes of daylight (7:32 am and 4:47 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is near the Beehive star cluster in the constellation Cancer before sunrise on Monday, and it is at third quarter on Tuesday. Mercury has jumped into the morning sky, rising more than an hour before sunrise this weekend, and over the week it will close the gap to Mars from 15 degrees to 10 degrees (a fist-width at arm’s length). Venus lies 7 degrees to the lower right of Jupiter in the evening sky this Saturday, and by next Saturday it will be less than 2 degrees below Jupiter. By December 9, Venus will be 3 degrees below Saturn. The Leonid meteor shower peaks on Monday morning, but we will have to wait for the return of Comet Tempel-Tuttle in about 14 years before this shower produces a significant number of shooting stars. For a brief time in 1966, some people were seeing 40-50 meteors per second at the peak of the shower; more like a torrent. Meteor experts are predicting a possible, but brief (maybe half an hour), outburst from the Alpha Monocerotid shower after midnight Thursday evening (centered on 12:50 am Friday morning). They will be emanating from near the bright star Procyon to the left of Orion.
The provincial astronomy club, RASC NB, meets in the UNB Fredericton Forestry-Earth Sciences building at 1 pm this Saturday. All are welcome.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.c
To the left of Taurus is a pentagram of stars marking the head, shoulders and knees of the constellation Auriga the Charioteer. One of those stars - in Auriga's right knee, with him facing us - is officially part of Taurus. Point your binoculars halfway between this star and the one in Auriga’s right shoulder. Open cluster M36 is just inside the line between the stars, and M37 is just outside. They look like fuzzy patches because, at distances of greater than 4000 light years, a telescope is required to resolve individual stars. Further inside is the diffuse open cluster M38, midway between the right shoulder and left knee. All three clusters can be seen together in wide-field binoculars
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:20 am and sunset will occur at 4:46 pm, giving 9 hours, 26 minutes of daylight (7:23 am and 4:53 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:30 am and set at 4:40 pm, giving 9 hours, 10 minutes of daylight (7:32 am and 4:47 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is near the Beehive star cluster in the constellation Cancer before sunrise on Monday, and it is at third quarter on Tuesday. Mercury has jumped into the morning sky, rising more than an hour before sunrise this weekend, and over the week it will close the gap to Mars from 15 degrees to 10 degrees (a fist-width at arm’s length). Venus lies 7 degrees to the lower right of Jupiter in the evening sky this Saturday, and by next Saturday it will be less than 2 degrees below Jupiter. By December 9, Venus will be 3 degrees below Saturn. The Leonid meteor shower peaks on Monday morning, but we will have to wait for the return of Comet Tempel-Tuttle in about 14 years before this shower produces a significant number of shooting stars. For a brief time in 1966, some people were seeing 40-50 meteors per second at the peak of the shower; more like a torrent. Meteor experts are predicting a possible, but brief (maybe half an hour), outburst from the Alpha Monocerotid shower after midnight Thursday evening (centered on 12:50 am Friday morning). They will be emanating from near the bright star Procyon to the left of Orion.
The provincial astronomy club, RASC NB, meets in the UNB Fredericton Forestry-Earth Sciences building at 1 pm this Saturday. All are welcome.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.c
nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
NORTHERN FLICKER NOV 14 2019 JAMIE BURRIS
NORTHERN FLICKER NOV 14 2019 JAMIE BURRIS
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET NOV 13 2019 JAMIE BURRIS
Auriga_Taurus 2019
