Nature Moncton Nature News: October 17 2025

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

October 17, 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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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**Reports coming in would suggest that this autumn has had the raccoons very active upending sod on lawns in search of delicious grubs to fatten up for the season ahead. Several observations are showing lawns that look like they have been recently plowed. Raccoons with their skillful paws are able to lift sod and roll it.

The skunk and the crow/raven also enjoy sleuthing out grubs in lawns but the markings are quite different. The skunk tends to dig random holes and then roll the soil; the corvid group can make quite a turmoil but don’t leave it in rolls.

**Jane LeBlanc noticed a female pileated woodpecker on its favourite hydro pole and managed to get a documentary photo through the window.

**Doreen Rossiter in Alma reports on two very pleasant fall visitors on Thursday. Doreen was pleased to have a male red-bellied woodpecker join her for the last few days, but it did not end there. A bird that she had not seen since 2014, a dickcissel, was kind enough to come to the window feeder for close examination as she stood there admiring it. She could see a shadow of the black bib on its throat.

**Tim Loker captured a photo of a flying squirrel enjoying a midnight snack of peanut butter, feeling the peanut butter was more important than the trepidation of a nearby photographer.

**Brian Stone took time on Thursday while hiding inside from the rain and clouds to process a few photos from earlier in October at Highland Park in Salisbury and other spots. At Highland Park, he photographed some yellowlegs and pectoral sandpipers that were foraging beside the small, shallow pond remnants. A group of shorebirds flew around the park, and a great blue heron stood beside the nearly dried-up smaller pond before flying off. At the nearby Salisbury Wetlands ponds, a large group of Canada geese was present, resting in the water, and dozens more were flying in.

Later, while visiting family in Hampton, Brian photographed long strands of spider web floating through the air. Also photographed were patches of woolly alder aphids and woolly bear caterpillars. Back at home, Brian checked out Barbara Smith's wasp nest and took another photo of the nest hole under her front yard shrubbery.

**This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2025 October 18 – October 25
Mid-autumn is a time for late-evening whale watching while the large constellation of Cetus the Whale is approaching the southern sky. Many of its stars are not particularly bright so it can be elusive, but you can piece it together in a fairly dark sky. The eastern side of the square of Pegasus is a handy arrow that points down toward Diphda, the brightest star in Cetus. Also called Deneb Kaitos, “the tail of the whale,” it anchors a pentagram of stars forming the rear half of Cetus below dim Pisces. A circlet of stars to the upper left, west of Taurus, is the whale’s head. In mythology, Cetus represents the sea monster created by Poseidon to ravage the coastal area of Ethiopia as punishment for Queen Cassiopeia’s boasting of her daughter Andromeda’s beauty.

A famous star in Cetus is Mira, perhaps the first star to be recognized as a variable or one that changes its brightness regularly. The name Mira translates as “wonderful.” It is a red giant star that expands and contracts, while brightening as it expands. At minimum brightness it cannot be seen with binoculars but every 11 months it brightens to easy naked eye visibility. Midway on the western side of the circlet of the whale’s head is a star which anchors an asterism that resembles a question mark. Don’t ask why, just try it with binoculars. A scope or binoculars could reveal the galaxy M77 approximately midway between Mira and Menkar, the star at the bottom of the circlet.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:40 and sunset will occur at 6:27, giving 10 hours, 47 minutes of daylight (7:44 and 6:33 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:50 and set at 6:15, giving 10 hours, 25 minutes of daylight (7:54 and 6:21 in Saint John).

The Moon is near Venus Sunday morning, two days before reaching the new moon phase. In Thursday evening twilight it anchors a southwestern line-up to the upper right with Mercury and Mars, but binoculars and a cloudless horizon will be required to see them. Saturn is at its highest and best for observing around 11 pm, and Jupiter will be rising a half hour later. The Orionid meteor shower peaks on Tuesday, with shooting stars emanating from his mighty club above orange Betelgeuse in his shoulder. For the next two weeks rural observers might see the zodiacal light in the morning sky 90 minutes before sunrise, a subtle wedge of scattered sunlight angling up toward Jupiter. For a bonus treat two speedy comets are within binocular viewing range, with 2025 A6 Lemmon scooting through Bootes at its closest to Earth, and 2025 R2 SWAN zipping through Scutum and Aquila. See the Heavens Above website for their location at any time.

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.