NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
August 8, 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.
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respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line
editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .
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Louise Nichols at Nicholsl@eastlink.ca if
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**Some members have shared some great
photos from the Wednesday evening walk on August 6. I'm sharing many as these photo opportunities are infrequent.
The Virginia rail chicks really
stole the show, and some were successful in capturing photo memories as they poked out of the grass to forage in the mud. They put on their performance
near the end of the walk, with the backlit sun making it a challenge to
photograph them at a distance so as not to disturb them.
Louise Nichols, Marbeth Wilson, and
Nelson Poirier were able to get some photos of the rails to share (on Aug 6).
Maureen and Katie Girvan share some
older photographs from July 20 that show how much the chicks have grown in 2½ weeks.
Marbeth was able to capture some of
the surprising number of warblers encountered with leaf bombing a real
challenge.
A green frog (suspected) made
a giant leap into the center of the mud patch to provide an unexpected
surprise.
Another unexpected moment occurred
when a sigmoid prominent moth cooperatively perched on the shirt of
Veronica Price. This moth always takes this unusual position when perched. This is likely a protective cryptic posture, as when in open-winged flight, it is
very colourful and obvious.
Marbeth also got a nice photograph
of the sun sinking into the city skyline just as the enjoyable Wednesday
walk was ending.
**Chris Antle had thought she had her
first visit from a female monarch butterfly a few days ago, but on searching
her milkweed patch for eggs, she found a nicely developed monarch butterfly
caterpillar to realize she had already had successful visits that went
undetected.
**Mac Wilmot found the large open
pupal cocoon of what appears to be a cicada insect. The emerged adults
of these large insects are vocalizing loudly at the moment, with a preference
for tall pine trees.
It’s caterpillar time, and with the
huge number of moths and butterflies, we can expect to see many caterpillars we may not
recognize, especially the very numerous moth species.
Mac came across one of these
colourful caterpillars, which BugGuide suspects to be the caterpillar of the pink-shaded
fern moth (Callopistria mollissima).
**The American Goldfinch is a
late nester waiting for seeds to appear to feed their young. Nelson Poirier
noted American goldfinch very attracted to the developing seeds of lamb’s
quarter in his yard.
With the Perseid meteor shower peaking this week let us visit its
namesake constellation. Perseus the Hero stands on the northeastern horizon by
midnight, just below the W shape of his mother-in-law, Cassiopeia. He is a hero
because, among other deeds, he prevented his future wife Andromeda from becoming
a tasty lunch for a ferocious sea monster.
The brightest star in Perseus, Mirfak, is part and namesake of the Alpha Persei
Cluster. This is one of my favourite binocular targets because it resembles a
miniature version of the constellation Draco. Another popular binocular target
is a close pair of star clusters - NGC 869 and NGC 884 - located halfway
between Perseus and Cassiopeia, which astronomers have cleverly called the
Double Cluster. The Perseid meteors appear to originate from a point near the
Double Cluster.
The constellation’s second brightest star is Algol the Demon, representing the
eye of the Gorgon Medusa. Perseus beheaded Medusa in a plan to avenge an
embarrassing moment by using her head to turn his hecklers into stone. The sea
monster was his first victim with this weapon. Algol is famous for dimming by a
factor of three every 69 hours. It is a very close pair of stars orbiting each
other in our line of sight, and their combined brightness drops when the dimmer
star passes in front of the brighter one. Look for the star cluster M34 about a
binocular width above Algol.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:11 and sunset will occur at 8:37, giving
14 hours, 26 minutes of daylight (6:18 and 8:40 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 6:20 and set at 8:25, giving 14 hours, 5 minutes of
daylight (6:26 and 8:29 in Saint John).
(Editor’s note: as Curt points out,
the days are shortening, which is a trigger for a call to action for many in
Mother Nature’s family.)
The waxing gibbous Moon is nearing
Saturn on Monday and it reaches third quarter near the Pleiades next Saturday.
Mars sets shortly after 10 pm this week with Saturn rising soon afterward.
Venus and Jupiter have a close conjunction, less than one degree apart, this
Tuesday, and the following morning they are still very close with Jupiter above
Venus. Mercury rises
an hour before sunrise this weekend and it extends that gap to 90 minutes by
next weekend. Despite the moonlight, the Perseid meteor shower should
delight stargazers over its peak days on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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.
Nelson Poirier.
Nature Moncton
SIGMOID PROMINENT MOTH. AUGUST 6, 2025. LOUISE NICHOLS
