Nature Moncton Nature News: April 19 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

April 19, 2024

Nature Moncton members as well as any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond are invited to share their photos and descriptions of recent nature sightings to build a fresh (almost) daily edition of Nature News

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .

Please advise both the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com and the proofreader nicholsl@eastlink.ca if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

The live feed to the Peregrine Falcon nest box camera can be accessed at https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam

**Frank branch in Paquetville was pleased to host a male Indigo Bunting at his feeders on Thursday that stayed with him all day and made many alerted birders very happy.

The Indigo Bunting is an uncommon breeder in New Brunswick. The breeding bird atlas has several squares as probable and confirmed.

(Editor’s note: the editor stands to be corrected on confirmed breeding status. The Indigo Bunting has pleasingly become an uncommon but regular New Brunswick visitor.)

** Moira Lawrence has a surprising number of the ephemeral plant Bloodroot ready to burst into their temporary above-ground bloom for the spring show.

(Editor’s note: Bloodroot is often found in woodland riverine locations making Moira’s yard display special. The above-ground floral beauty of Bloodroot will suddenly disappear as fast as it came, to leave an underground rhizome and leaves with all the information to reappear next spring.)

Moira also has Daphne bursting into bloom in her yard. The Daphne is very old having been present for a long time to make its colourful early spring appearance.

**Susan and Fred Richards are having a very lively few days with birds arriving to their Taylor Village property.

The double rainbow that Memramcook Valley enjoyed on the evening of April 15 gave a beautiful backdrop.

Some of their bird visitors included the beautiful male Rose-breasted Grosbeak that joined a pair of Northern Cardinals that have been present since last fall. A male Evening Grosbeak dropped by to make it known it was another colourful grosbeak species. The sunflower feeder has became a hotspot for Purple Finches, American Goldfinch, and Black-capped Chickadees.

At their yard pond are a pair of Canada Geese with a pair of American Wigeons dropping in every few days. They have been hearing Spring Peepers every night for about 3 days now.

Spring has arrived at Taylor Village!

**Norbert Dupuis in Memramcook has been hosting a duo of female Northern Cardinals for 155 consecutive days up to April 15.

On Thursday morning, Norbert was bringing one of the feeders inside until next winter, and he threw some remaining safflower and sunflower seeds on his walkway to be very pleased to have a male Northern Cardinal arrive to join a female for the first time to make family-planning nearby a possibility.

**When Barb Curlew went to visit her friend in Dennis Beach, Albert County she was very surprised to see a Wild Turkey walking around her friend's yard. No one was home at that time and they were not able to relocate it later.

(Editors’ note: labelling turkeys as wild and not feral escapees in areas outside of Sussex or the border with Maine is still controversial, but I suspect it’s going to happen sooner or later if it hasn’t already.)

**Jane LeBlanc had a White-breasted Nuthatch in her St. Martins yard on Thursday. She doesn't have them nearly as often as the Red-breasted Nuthatch.

**Aldo Dorio was surprised to photograph a late remaining Snow Bunting at Hay Island on Thursday showing its breeding plumage. We don’t often get to see the Snow Bunting in full breeding plumage still present in New Brunswick at this time of year.

Aldo also noticed a pair of Osprey are making reparations to their nest to get family planning underway at Hay Island.

**Friday has arrived already and it's our day to review what next week’s night sky may have in store for us, courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 April 20 – April 27
When people see a telescope that doesn’t look like it came from a department store, they often ask how far you can see with it. The answer is difficult to explain and even more difficult to comprehend. Sometimes I just say “way far” and hope they don’t press for details.

This weekend the brightest object in the evening sky is the Moon, near its farthest at about 400,000 kilometres. The next brightest object is Jupiter, currently at 888 million kilometres and receding. Uranus, possibly visible in binoculars nearby, will be 3 billion km away. Light travels at 300,000 km per second, so at 150 million km the Sun is a distance of 500 light seconds away. The Moon is a tad more than one light second away, Jupiter is 49 light minutes, and Uranus about 170 light minutes.

The brightest star we see in the evening now is still Sirius, the closest star we can see from New Brunswick at 8.6 light years (ly). The next brightest is Arcturus and it is 37 ly or 350 trillion kilometres. Polaris, the North Star, is about 400 ly away; and Alnilam, the middle star of Orion’s belt, is 2000 light years. If you are under a dark sky well before morning twilight you might get a naked eye glimpse of the Andromeda Galaxy at a distance of 2.5 million light years. Binoculars will reveal galaxies even more distant, but at what point do these distances become incomprehensible and “way far” is a reasonable answer?

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:23 and sunset will occur at 8:13, giving 13 hours, 50 minutes of daylight (6:29 and 8:17 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 6:11 and set at 8:22, giving 14 hours, 11 minutes of daylight (6:18 and 8:26 in Saint John).

The Moon is near Spica in Virgo on Monday, it is full on Tuesday, and is seen near Antares in Scorpius on Friday. Saturn rises around 4:50 midweek, an hour before Mercury but just 20 minutes before Mars. Jupiter is low in the west in evening twilight and binoculars might reveal Uranus within the same binocular view to its right. The Lyrid meteor shower peaks on Monday morning, with shooting stars emanating from near the bright star Vega high in the southeast.

On Sunday evening at 8 pm, tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show via the Facebook page or YouTube channel of Astronomy by the Bay.

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