NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
September 26, 2025
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**Brian
Coyle was out for a hike last Sunday and came across some common bumblebee
activity. As he crouched down, Brian observed pollen-laden, smallish bumblebees
landing and crawling into an underground nest, one after the other. In
addition, he observed a larger specimen, containing no pollen, also entering
the nest. One large individual was outside the nest and appeared to be digging
in the dirt. There were other signs of excavation nearby. Brian got an
excellent video shown at the link below, as well as a still photo.
**Last
Sunday, Brian Coyle was out to a couple of trail cameras at a Beaver pond and
spotted two solitary sandpipers, which cooperated for photographs and 2 excellent videos.
**Deana and Peter Gadd were pleased to spot a rare visitor to their garden’s dead mountain ash tree on Wednesday: a white-breasted nuthatch.
**Last
Sunday, a few irregular visitors came to the garden area of Deana and Peter
Gadd in Miramichi. The first was a visit from a yellow-bellied sapsucker.
It was enjoying the remains of a five-trunked mountain ash tree. Over the last four years or so it, or other members of its species, has systematically
completely destroyed four of the trunks with their systematic draining of its sap.
Sunday’s visitor was working on the half-dead remaining fifth trunk. This is disappointing as this once very fruitful tree attracted the mega-rare Eurasian
mistle thrush eight years ago this coming winter. Another irregular visit was from
a ruby-crowned kinglet.
Most of the activity through the day was centred on the patio bird bath, which features a small fountain (Warbler Fall) . A juvenile northern cardinal was the dominant bird through the afternoon, spending considerable time before realizing it could reach down and get a drink of water. Both its parents were in the vicinity at one time or another; Dad fulfilled feeding responsibilities. At least 10 bird species took advantage of the water as this summer’s drought continues. Purple finches certainly enjoyed themselves. A yellow warbler was the only member of the warbler family to come by. The red-breasted nuthatch and American robin took advantage. The American robin, in the middle of a molt, looked to be perhaps a “bare-necked lady”!
**Susan
Rousseau in Sussex just found a monarch butterfly chrysalis attached
to her house. Jim Wilson thinks it’s a little late and might not develop, so
she should put it in her cage to give it a chance. She already has another one that should hatch at the end of this week.
**Norbert
Dupuis has seen in the last three days…dozens of blue jays in his sunflowers, which
have very much attracted the attention of an immature sharp-shinned hawk,
which gave Norbert some excellent photographs.
**Penny
Clark recently was in Nova Scotia, South Shore, and came across some muscovy
ducks with their family (right on the side of the road). She counted 18
ducklings. Amazing!!!
**The large white underwing moths are out on their mating missions at the moment, as expected. Aldo Dorio photographed one that was day-perched at Tim Horton’s in Neguac this past week.
**Brian
Stone was at a wharf in Lower Cambridge on Saturday and was searching the
water's edge near the wharf when he found a pair of American pipits
exploring the same area. They seemed unconcerned with Brian's presence for
a short period of time before changing their minds and flying off, but they
left behind a nice photo collection. Also seen there were a fresh-looking comma
butterfly, a northern crescent butterfly, several leopard frogs,
a white-throated sparrow, and a monarch butterfly that successfully
evaded the camera.
Smaller
than normal asters and a small patch of tiny yellow flowers were
noted and photographed before Brian moved on to another spot where he saw
several very small bees, possibly honeybees, landing on
lily pads and eating or drinking or something similar, and a small, six-spotted
fishing spider resting on a floating stem. On his way home, driving along Route
112, Brian came close enough to a new forest fire to get and smell the smoke,
and he took some photos of the smoke, including some from high spots on
the Homestead Rd. as the Sun was setting.
**This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2025 September 27 – October 4
Aquarius the Water Bearer is the source of all the water associated with our
southern autumn constellations. It is situated among Pisces to the east and
Capricornus to the west, with Pegasus north and Pisics Austrinus south. Its
western end stretches over top of Capricornus. Most of the stars of Aquarius
are relatively dim but one asterism stands out, the tight group of four stars
that forms the Water Jar. Resembling a circle with three spokes, this asterism
is also called the Steering Wheel.
One tale from mythology has Aquarius representing Ganymede, the handsome son of
a Trojan king. Zeus was attracted to the lad and sent his pet eagle to kidnap
him. Ganymede was given the important position of cup bearer (wine pourer) at
Olympian feasts. There may have been another motive for the kidnapping; the
moons of the planet Jupiter are named for Zeus’s lovers and Ganymede is the
largest of those moons.
A few Messier objects lie within Aquarius, the best being the globular cluster
M2. I usually star hop to this one by going from a star in the neck of Pegasus
to its ear, and extending that line an equal distance. A fainter globular
cluster, M73, is above the back of Capricornus, and just to its east is
enigmatic M73. Stargazers wonder how this four-star asterism made it to the
Messier list.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:12 and sunset will occur at 7:06, giving
11 hours, 54 minutes of daylight (7:17 and 7:11 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 7:21 and set at 6:52, giving 11 hours, 31 minutes of
daylight (7:26 and 6:58 in Saint John).
The Moon is near Antares this Saturday evening and it is at first quarter on
Monday. Saturn is low in the east during evening twilight, later displaying its
edge-on rings for telescope users. Mars and Mercury are very low in the west
after sunset, difficult targets for binocular viewing. By midweek Jupiter will
be rising a half hour past midnight, placing it high in the east near Castor
and Pollux for optimal morning observing. Venus rises around 5 am this weekend
and a few minutes later each morning afterward. Have you ever seen a dwarf
planet? Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt, is a binocular object in
Cetus to the lower left of Saturn. Use the map in the Heavens-Above website to
locate it.
Tune
in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm on the YouTube channel and
Facebook page of Astronomy by the Bay. The Saint John Astronomy Club meets in
the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre on October 4 at 7 pm.
Questions?
Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
