NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
August 1, 2025
Nature Moncton members, as
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**Thursday July 31, at approximately 2 pm, Heather Silliker observed a barn owl
sitting on a hydro wire.
This was 2 km past the exit to Murray Beach and just past
blue Civic #6090.
She was going towards Port Elgin. On the right side of the road was a pile of logs,
pasture with a few highland cows, lots of rusty machinery in the yard. The owl
was on the left-hand side overlooking a marshy area. Heather circled back three times, finally pulled over to try to get a photo, and spooked the bird!
It is a very busy highway, so please be careful if you try to see this bird.
A certain lifer for Heather, as it would be for most others
in New Brunswick!
**The Nature
Moncton Wednesday Night Walk was held at the Tucker St. Ducks
Unlimited lagoons on Wednesday evening. Brian Stone sends some of the photos he
took during the walk that best display the variety of nature that the walkers
experienced. Many bald eagles were perched and soaring in the area, including
both adults and immatures. An osprey was seen before the walk started but
seemed to vanish as the group began their trek. Several immature-looking song
sparrows were seen with difficulty through the obscuring cattails, and a
few Canada geese were still hanging around. Shorebirds noted were a few lesser
yellowlegs, a single least sandpiper (photographed in an open wing
position by Judy Cairns), and a couple of spotted sandpipers.
A family of American wigeon ducks
was close to the shore, and a hefty beaver made a few appearances as it
cruised around the pond. A bullfrog seemed happy sitting at the edge of
the water, and a tiny plume moth was easily noticed due to its right-angle
"T" shape. Brian saw several large dragonflies flying and hovering,
but not landing, and he commanded his camera to take a decent flight photo of
one or suffer the consequences, and the camera obliged rather than risk Brian's
wrath. The dragonfly turned out to be a large common green darner, and
Brian was very happy. The camera was also pleased, and no consequences were
had.
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2025 August 2 – August 9
The constellation Cepheus the King is quite large but it can be difficult to
pick out. Around 9:30 pm, look northward for a group of five moderately bright
stars in the shape of a house on its side and situated above the W-shape of
Cassiopeia the Queen. The peak of the house is only about a fist-width to the
right of Polaris, the North Star, and the constellation lies just below a line
from Polaris to Deneb at the tail of Cygnus the Swan. A colourful star can be
seen in binoculars or a scope just below the base of the house. Herschel’s
Garnet Star, a red supergiant, is one of the most luminous stars known and is a
thousand times wider than the Sun. If placed in the middle of our solar system
it would stretch beyond the orbit of Jupiter.
Another famous star in Cepheus is Delta Cephei, which is situated near the
bottom left of the house; it being the namesake of the Cepheid variable stars.
Such giant stars pulsate with a regular period and subsequently dim and
brighten consistently over that time. For example, Delta Cephei dims and
brightens by a factor of two over about five days. Early in the 20th century
Harvard astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovered that the intrinsic
brightness of a Cepheid variable was proportional to its period, and she worked
out a formula for this relationship. Using the 100-inch telescope on Mount
Wilson in the 1920s, Edwin Hubble detected Cepheid variables in what was then
called the Andromeda Nebula. Knowing the intrinsic brightness of these stars
based on their periods, and how stars dim with distance, he determined the
distance to these stars and proved that the nebula was actually a galaxy
outside of the Milky Way.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:02 and sunset will occur at 8:47, giving
14 hours, 45 minutes of daylight (6:10 and 8:49 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 6:11 and set at 8:37, giving 14 hours, 26 minutes of
daylight (6:18 and 8:40 in Saint John).
The
waxing gibbous Moon is below Antares this Sunday and it is full next Saturday.
Mars is the sole evening planet after sunset, setting shortly before Saturn
rises around 10:40 midweek with Neptune just above it. Venus and Jupiter are
heading toward a spectacular close conjunction in mid-August. Mercury has moved
to the morning sky and it should be far enough from the Sun for viewing by late
in the week. Keep an eye out this week for stragglers from the South Delta
Aquariid meteor shower and early arrivals from the Perseid shower.
The
Mount Carleton star party takes place this weekend; see rascnb.ca for details.
The Saint John Astronomy Club meets in the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre
on August 9 at 7 pm.
Questions? Contact
Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
**The New Brunswick Environmental Network publishes a monthly list of events they are aware of. Click on any of the events below for full details:
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Nelson Poirier.
Nature Moncton
