Nature Moncton Nature News: June 5 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, June 5, 2020 (Friday)

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

Please advise editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labeling.

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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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** Louise Nichols got a nice photo of a HOBOMOK SKIPPER [Hespérie hobomok] on Thursday showing the underwing bars which extend halfway across the hind wing, whereas the similar PECK’S SKIPPER [Hespérie de Peck] with that similar bar arrangement extending well beyond half way across the wing. Louise also got her first BULLFROG [Ouaouaron] of the season in the small pond on their Aulac property. She also photographed some egg clusters which we are assuming to be YELLOW-SPOTTED SALAMANDER [Salamandre maculée]. Note the thick gelatinous coating to the mass. I’ve read in some guides that the egg masses actually use the green algae, that appears to be invading them, as a source of oxygen.

** Gordon Rattray shares some floral photos from the White Rock Recreational Area which Nature Moncton will visit for a field trip on June 20^th. Photos include ALTERNATE LEAF DOGWOOD which will produce a blue berry cluster when mature; BLUE-BEADED LILY (aka CLINTONIA) which will produce large blue berries when mature, inedible for humans; CHOKE CHERRY bloom mass in the shape of a cone vs the pin cushion shape of PIN CHERRY; HAWTHORNE with its striking flowers, but very sharp strong thorns; the small three-part OAK FERN; and OSTRICH FERN, the edible delicacy when in the fiddlehead stage, now unfurling into the Ostrich feather-like frond.

**Jane LeBlanc got a side view of a BULLFROG [Ouaouaron] on Thursday to show the large round tympanic membrane to suggest it to be a male. The female has one as well, but smaller. The tympanic membrane acts like an ear to detect vibrations. Also the photo shows the Bullfrog feature of the dorsolateral ridge, a line curving down behind the tympanic membrane, and no dorsolateral ridges running down the back like in other frogs. She also got a photo of the first visit of a CANADIAN TIGER SWALLOWTAIL [Papillon tigré du Canada] to her St. Martins yard, as well as a few flight photos of a female NORTHERN HARRIER [Busard Saint-Martin].

** John Massey got a 53-second video of a large ANT [Fourmi] very determinedly carrying off a caterpillar, no doubt as a food item for the colony. Take a look at action at the attached video link.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/own0abmxixqiai3/John%20Massey%20-%20Ant%20and%20Caterpillar%20.mp4?dl=0

** Bob Blake has a male YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER [Pic maculé] that is feeding regularly on raw suet. Bob put out jelly, but it still prefers the raw suet.

** Brian Stone got a photo of ALDER FLEA BEETLES. These beetles skeletonize the leaves of affected Alders, leaving only the veins of the leaf left. As the photo shows, they can attack an Alder shrub in huge numbers. Other species of beetles will skeletonize their favourite plants similarly, but the Alder Flea Beetle is the most noticed as the food plant is so abundant. Brian also got a photo of another leaf beetle which I have not been able to find a used common name for. It was on the Alder as well, feeding on the leaves. The scientific name as identified by Denis Doucet is with the photo. A CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER [Paruline à flancs marron] looked on with interest.

Brian got a photo of the 99.4% full Moon on Thursday evening as well as Mountain Ash Tree blooming in his back yard.

Brian tried to get a photo of the Starlink satellite train going over but it was a bit dim and the pretty much full Moon washed it out. It's a good time some for folks with decent SLR cameras in the group to record the event properly for display. The satellite train is going over again tonight just after 10:30 here in Moncton. Brian adds a screenprint of the info.

** It’s Friday and time to look at the sky, much later these days, for Curt Nason’s Sky-at-a-Glance for the next week.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2020 June 6 – June 13
Globular clusters are among the oldest and largest objects associated with our galaxy, being about 12 billion years old and containing tens to hundreds of thousands of stars packed into a compact sphere. There are more than 150 globulars orbiting in the halo of the Milky Way galaxy, and many more are known to be orbiting larger galaxies like M31 in Andromeda. Many can be seen in binoculars as a fuzzy patch of light, perhaps resembling those little white patches you see below bird feeders. A medium size telescope is able to resolve some of their stars. The larger globulars as seen from a dark location have been described as looking like granules of sugar against black velvet.

Summer is the season for observing globular clusters. M4 is just to the right of Antares in the constellation Scorpius and it is one of the closest globulars at 7000 light years. M13 in the Keystone of Hercules is relatively close at 22,000 light years. One that would outshine M13 if it were higher in our sky is M22, just left of the lid of the Teapot in Sagittarius. Another easy target is M3, located halfway between Arcturus and Cor Caroli, the brightest star in the small constellation Canes Venatici below the handle of the Big Dipper. Two other standouts are M92 in Hercules and M5 in Serpens. From a dark sky, many dimmer globulars can be picked out in the region of Sagittarius and Ophiuchus.

The concentration of globular clusters in this region of sky is not by accident, and it played a role in another lesson of humility for humanity. Harvard’s Harlow Shapley studied globular clusters a century ago and noticed that most were located around Sagittarius. If they were evenly distributed around the core of our galaxy, as believed, then the centre of the galaxy must lie in that direction. Just as Copernicus and Galileo demoted Earth from the centre of the solar system, Shapley showed that the Sun was not at the centre of the Milky Way.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 5:29 am and sunset will occur at 9:07 pm, giving 15 hours, 38 minutes of daylight (5:37 am and 9:09 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 5:27 am and set at 9:11 pm, giving 15 hours, 44 minutes of daylight (5:35 am and 9:13 pm in Saint John).

The Moon is at third quarter and below Mars next Saturday, June 13, and it is below Saturn this Monday. Mercury remains visible in the evening, setting 90 minutes after the Sun mid-week. Jupiter and Saturn are rising before midnight this weekend, and next weekend Mars will be half a binocular field below Neptune while Venus rises in morning twilight 45 minutes before sunrise. Those with a medium size telescope might catch comet C/2017 T2 PanSTARRS in the bowl of the Big Dipper all week.

With astronomy meetings and outreach activities on hold, you can watch the local Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm, and view archived shows, on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAEHfOWyL-kNH7dBVHK8spg

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

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton