Nature Moncton Nature
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**Activities
Committee member Matt Nguyen thanks everyone who joined the Zoom call for Nature
Moncton’s Movie Night on Thursday evening.
We watched Martin Dohrn’s "My Garden
of a Thousand Bees," and it was a resounding hit.
Christine
got us started with the backstory of how Martin filmed this right in his own
backyard during the pandemic lockdowns. It’s amazing what you can see when you
take the time to focus on just one small patch of the world!
The
discussion following the film was particularly insightful. Many of us were
surprised to learn that New Brunswick is home to roughly 215 different species
of bees - a fact that certainly shifts how one views their own backyard. We
spent some time discussing how we can better support these local pollinators
through intentional gardening. A recurring theme was the benefit of a
"lighter touch" in our yards; by leaving leaf litter, sticks, and
dried grass in place during the spring and fall, we help provide the essential
resources these wild bees need to thrive.
Brian
offered his feedback on the incredible camerawork that went into capturing
those tiny, clear shots, but for many of us, it was the emotional side that
also stuck. Many of us found ourselves rooting for Martin Dohrn's closest bee
friend, "Nicky". It’s incredible to think about the intelligence
these solitary bees have, essentially being born into the world and having to
figure out how to survive and adapt without any help.
It
was a great demonstration of how even the smallest creatures have a huge story
to tell.
(Editor’s
note: It is getting to that time of year when we are more apt to see bobcat and
coyote roaming about during the day, as breeding season is about to begin to
arrange for young families to be born in the spring.)
**Norbert
Dupuis was able to capture a beautiful photo of the male painted bunting
that is overwintering in Bayfield, which has created so many pleasant memories
for many birders.
**Wendy
Sullivan did a photo shoot of the lively list of patrons that visited her
Riverview birdfeeder yard on Thursday and Friday to include both northern cardinal genders, pine grosbeak and evening grosbeak, and black-capped chickadee.
**Chris
Antle is pleased to share Thursday morning’s visitor, a pileated woodpecker,
in her Riverview garden.
All
the usual suspects have been stopping by, including the local roaming flock of
± 50 evening grosbeaks, 6 common redpolls, 3 pine grosbeaks, white-breasted
nuthatch, mourning doves, and too many American goldfinches to count +|-
90-120.
**A
pair of Carolina wrens has adopted the yard area of Mac and Brenda Wilmot in
Lower Coverdale for a few years now. Mac’s nephew Scott Wilmot, who lives next door, is hearing the
wrens vocalizing robustly at this moment in January.
**Tony Thomas in Fredericton has adopted the quest to photograph a new bird each day at his Fredericton feeder yard. He chose Friday to photograph the New Brunswick bird symbol,
the ubiquitous black-capped chickadee
**Brian and Annette Stone went for a late afternoon walk in Mapleton Park in Moncton, and even though they were not expecting to see much wildlife at that time of day, they were rewarded with some nice sightings of the two common species of grosbeaks that are foraging for winter food a bit more visibly this season than in recent years.
Annette's
eagle eyes were Brian's best asset on this walk, and they were not far into the
park when she spotted a large group of 30+ evening grosbeaks feeding on
maple tree seeds. Shortly after that photo session ended, and a few meters
further up the trail, Annette found 7 pine grosbeaks (3 males and 4
females) feeding on highbush cranberries and the small buds of an unidentified
shrub.
On
the return section of the trail, Annette once again was a photographer's best
friend as she located a female pileated woodpecker working away on
several trees. Brian sure does enjoy going for walks with sharp-eyed
companions.
Brian also includes a simple photo of an interesting hole in a dead tree stump that looks like a nest hole, and is about the same size as the holes in the Nature Moncton nest boxes, just because it is so neat and well-made. Maybe something will nest in it this coming season.
There is one river seen from New Brunswick that is completely ice-free all
winter, but we can only see it on clear nights. Eridanus the River, the fifth
largest constellation in area of the sky, has its head just off the foot of
Orion near Rigel. Even when it is at its highest in our sky, the river’s
meandering path takes it more than ten degrees below the horizon to where it
terminates at Achernar, the ninth brightest star.
In mythology the river was associated with Phaethon, a mortal son of Apollo.
Apollo drove the Sun, a golden chariot powered by mighty steeds, across the sky
by day. Phaethon was allowed to drive it one day but he couldn’t control the
steeds. They ran amok, scorching the sky (the Milky Way) and the Earth
(Sahara), until Zeus blasted Phaethon with a thunderbolt and he fell to his
death in the river. The twisty constellation Eridanus was also considered to be
the path of souls.
Although we can’t see Achernar without travelling to Florida, there is a
notable star in Eridanus that we can see from outside a city. Omicron-2
Eridani, also called 40 Eridani or Keid (circled on the map), has a famous
fictional and fascinating planet: Vulcan, the home of Spock. Did you know there
was once believed to be a planet closer to the Sun than Mercury? It was named
Vulcan after the Roman god of fire, metalworking and the forge. Anomalies in
Mercury’s orbit were thought to be due to an interior planet, and some
astronomers even claimed to have seen it crossing the Sun. The anomalies of
Mercury’s orbit were finally explained by Albert Einstein in his General Theory
of Relativity. Coincidentally, regarding the god Vulcan, the constellation
Fornax the Furnace barely crests our horizon near Eridanus.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:59 and sunset will occur at 4:54, giving
8 hours, 55 minutes of daylight (8:02 and 5:01 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 7:56 and set at 5:02, giving 9 hours, 6 minutes of
daylight (7:58 and 5:10 in Saint John).
The Moon is at third quarter this Saturday and near Antares on Wednesday
morning. Saturn still gives good views of its edge-on rings in early
evening, while Jupiter is now in the eastern sky at sunset. On Wednesday
telescope users might see Jupiter’s moon Io lead its shadow across the planet
between 6:06 and 8:30, at which time the Red Spot will be approaching the
middle. Venus, Mars and Mercury are out of sight for most of this month.
Tune
in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm on the YouTube channel and
Facebook page of Astronomy by the Bay. Nature lovers might be interested in a
presentation on astronomical birds in the night sky. The Fredericton Astronomy
Club meets in the UNB Forestry-Earth Sciences building on Tuesday at 7 pm.
Questions?
Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
