Nature Moncton Nature News: November 29 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

November 29, 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

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**Here goes the third Red-bellied Woodpecker report this week!!

Gordon Rattray had a new visitor to his yard on Thursday, a male Red-bellied Woodpecker that arrived in the morning and stayed around all day. Gordon had a male Red-Bellied Woodpecker spend the winter at his feeders last year. Gordon hopes this one does the same. Gordon was also able to get a picture of the Brown Creeper that has been a regular this fall, though it is camera shy. Gordon reports that a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches continue daily visits.

**Shannon Inman spotted two separate Barred Owls in their Harvey neighbourhood on Thursday, and at home, they tallied a whopping eight Rusty Blackbirds. Six were in one tree and two in the next tree with a Red-winged Blackbird. John was finding it hard to get close photos due to hawks monitoring the yard.

**Norbert Dupuis photographed the male of his Northern Cardinal pair enjoying safflower seed in his Memramcook yard.

**Brian Stone got up on Thursday morning to find Jack Frost had visited his car hood, which resulted in a very striking photograph!

**Maureen Girvan came across the link below that -- with the aid of some current technology -- demonstrates the incredible hunting prowess of the Peregrine Falcon.

https://www.birdguides.com/articles/ornithology/raptor-recorded-hunting-shorebird-at-extreme-altitude/

**This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 November 30 – December 7
With the Great Square of Pegasus at its peak in the early evening it is a good time to visit the autumn constellations with binoculars. The flying horse soars upside down, and if you regard the two lines of stars in Andromeda as its hind legs it looks like a rocking horse. Well, to me it does. The horse’s neck stretches off the southwest corner of the square, and then it angles off to the snout. Extending a line from the head to the snout by about half that distance brings you to the globular cluster M15, looking like a fat star in binoculars or something snorted from the horse.

The opposite star of the square is Alpheratz at the head of Andromeda. The second star from there, along the brighter line of her body, is Mirach, which looks orange in binoculars. Moving to the star above it in the second line of Andromeda, and beyond to another star, puts you near M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. In a dark sky you can see it as a faint smudge with the naked eye and it is spectacular in binoculars. Going the opposite direction from Mirach, about halfway to the tip of Triangulum and a tad to the left, is M33. This face-on spiral galaxy is much tougher to see; you will need a transparent sky.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:40 and sunset will occur at 4:35, giving 8 hours, 55 minutes of daylight (7:42 and 4:43 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:48 and set at 4:33, giving 8 hours, 45 minutes of daylight (7:50 and 4:41 in Saint John). The Moon is new on Sunday and it makes a scenic pairing with Venus on Wednesday.

Brilliant Venus can be seen in the southwest soon after sunset, slowly gaining altitude nightly and setting around 7:45. Saturn is at its highest and best for observing by 6:30 pm, showing its rings nearly edge on. Jupiter is at opposition next Saturday and it will be in the night sky for 15 and-a-half hours this week. Since Jupiter rotates in less than ten hours, the Red Spot will be visible for telescope users at some time every evening. Mars reaches its first stationary point next Saturday, therefore remaining within a binocular view above the Beehive star cluster for a month. Mercury is too close to the Sun for viewing this week, reaching inferior conjunction on Thursday.

Tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm on the YouTube channel and Facebook page of Astronomy by the Bay.

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