NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
August 15, 2025
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 the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
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
Nature Moncton visit to the Joggins Fossil Cliffs and Museum is on for
tomorrow, Saturday, August 16.
The
announcement is repeated at the end of this edition, should any last-minute
participants wish to join. Carpooling is available. Registration and carpooling is in care of Fred Richards at 506-334-0100.
**
Rheal Vienneau is rearing a few dozen monarch butterflies this year and hopes
to tag a dozen or more before releasing. All are welcome to view current and
future activity in his Dieppe backyard. Contact rjvienneau@gmail.com
**The
milkweed tussock moth caterpillar in its later instars is quite an
eye-catching black and white with orange tufts, but can be very devastating to
a patch of milkweed as they can appear in large numbers, feeding on milkweed,
chewing and sometimes skeletonizing the foliage. They are capable of destroying
a large patch of milkweed when an army of them starts eating their way through.
Nelson
Poirier found a mass of early instar larvae chewing their way through one leaf
of a common milkweed plant and photographed them as something for folks to
watch for and remove as soon as possible.
**Nelson
Poirier recently photographed a darner dragonfly from a position he felt would
be easy to identify, comparing it to guide photographs. That was not the case,
as it seemed to have too many features of other darner dragonflies.
With
guidance from Gilles Belliveau, it was narrowed down to a variable darner,
and I am sharing Gilles’s helpful comments below, as it may help others to
identify this ‘variable’ species.
Gilles
comments
“At
first glance, I thought it might be one of the species I’ve yet to see or have
only seen once; however, after looking those up and not seeing a match based on
the thoracic stripe pattern, I felt pretty confident ruling those out.
That’s
when I realized it was most likely a Variable Darner which can have very narrow
and irregular stripes on the thorax. The most common form in our region
(in my experience) tends to have broken stripes which look like 4 spots
instead of 2 stripes but they are quite variable and can have stripes, spots or
a mixture of both or can even be missing parts of the “stripe.
Also, the pattern isn’t necessarily symmetrical on both sides of
the thorax.
They
can be confusing to look at sometimes because some individuals can have
stripe patterns that almost resemble other species but not quite right,
so those individuals usually just end up looking 'different' from
anything else.”
**This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2025 August 16 – August 23
One of the prettiest constellations can be seen halfway up in the southeastern
sky around 10 pm. Delphinus the Dolphin is composed of a small diamond-shaped
asterism with a star tailing off to the right, and it doesn’t take a lot of
imagination to picture a dolphin leaping out of the sea. Although its stars are
not bright, its compact shape is eye-catching. Below it are the watery
constellations of Capricornus, Aquarius, Piscis Austrinus and Pisces. In
mythology, Poseidon had designs on the sea nymph Amphitrite but she hid on him.
A dolphin kept track of her and eventually convinced her that the sea god was
an okay guy, and it was rewarded with a place of honour in the sky. The diamond
part of the constellation has also been called Job’s Coffin but the origin of
this is unknown.
Above Delphinus, and within the Summer Triangle, are two other small
constellations called Sagitta the Arrow and Vulpecula the Fox. Like Delphinus,
Sagitta does resemble its namesake but apparently the fox is too sly to give
itself away readily. Sagitta is supposedly the arrow shot by Hercules to kill
an eagle (Aquila), which had been commanded by Zeus to peck out the liver of
Prometheus each day to punish him for giving humans the secret of fire.
Binoculars might reveal the tiny gaseous remnants of an expired star, called
the Dumbbell Nebula or M27, above the arrowhead, and the Coathanger Cluster is
to the upper right of the fletching.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:20 and sunset will occur at 8:25, giving
14 hours, 5 minutes of daylight (6:26 and 8:29 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 6:28 and set at 8:13, giving 13 hours, 45 minutes of
daylight (6:35 and 8:17 in Saint John).
The waxing third quarter Moon is nearing the Pleiades this Saturday. It
joins up with Jupiter and Venus on Tuesday and especially Wednesday before
visiting Mercury on Thursday. Jupiter and Mars double the space between
themselves over the week as they move in opposite directions. Mercury rises
about 90 minutes before sunrise all week and more than doubles its brightness
over that period. Saturn rises before 10 pm this weekend and a few minutes
earlier each evening, with Neptune less than half a binocular field above
it. Being relatively dim and setting about 80 minutes after sunset, Mars will
be a difficult binocular target. But, if you can pick it out, and with Uranus a
binocular field below the Pleiades, this is a good week to attempt an
all-planet day or night.
The
RASC NB star party at Fundy National Park takes place next Friday and Saturday,
August 22-23. See the rascnb website for details.
Questions?
Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
**Nature
Moncton’s Field Trip to Joggins Fossil Cliffs and Museum
We have scheduled an
outing at the Joggins Fossil Centre (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) for Saturday, August 16th, 2025. The tour
of the fossil cliffs will start at 11:30 and will last approximately 90
minutes. Visitors to the site are asked
to wear appropriate footwear, be careful of cobblestones, and avoid walking on
wet, loose rocks.
You will have access to the museum
before and after the tour. This event
will take place in Joggins, Nova Scotia, and is just over an hour from
Moncton. We plan to have some car
pooling for this event, and I will set this up after we find out how many are
interested. Please use the Nature
Moncton Contact email to have your name added to the list. naturenmonctoncontact@gmail.com
The cost will be $25.00 per person.
Joggins Fossil Cliffs on the Bay of
Fundy: Canada’s 15th UNESCO World Heritage Site
Explore up to 15 kilometres of
magnificently exposed layers of rock along the Bay of Fundy coastline, just 30
minutes from Amherst and 40 minutes from Parrsboro. Towering cliffs reveal the
world’s most complete fossil record of life in the ‘Coal Age’ when lush forests
covered Joggins and much of the world’s tropical regions, 300 million years
ago.
Constant erosion from the Bay of
Fundy’s tides, rising and falling up to 13 metres (42 feet) in Joggins twice
daily, creates possibilities for exposing new, rare fossils. Search for fossils on the beach or view the spectacular
sandstone layers with fossilized remains of the 300-million-year-old
forest. With careful observation, you
may even find fossils of animal and insect trackways or the remains of
amphibians or Hylonomus lyelli – the oldest known reptile and
Nova Scotia’s provincial fossil!
- Visit the Joggins Fossil Centre
to learn about the ’Coal Age’ through fossils, exhibits, and displays that
tell a 300-million-year-old story.
- Take a guided beach tour with the
Joggins Fossil Centre to explore the nearby Joggins Fossil Cliffs, where
fossilized trees and roots from an ancient forest are preserved within the
cliffs.
- Uncover fossils on the beach as
almost every rock contains a fossil, and each tidal cycle reveals new
fossils!
- Enjoy local coffees, teas and
baked goods at The Roundhouse Café open Saturdays through Wednesdays in
July and August.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
