Nature Moncton Nature
News
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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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observations/photos with Nature News, contact the editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
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Proofreading courtesy of
Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
The camera on the peregrine
falcon nest box on the summit of Assumption Place is now live. When
checking the link to watch the activity, scroll down to the first large image,
which shows what is happening in real time.
The male and female take
turns incubating the eggs almost constantly now. The female is on the nest most
of the time, but the male always seems to be ready to give her short breaks so she can leave the precious cargo.
https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam
**A heads up on the Nature
Moncton event coming up this weekend
Join us in helping clean
up the riverfront for trail users, marsh wildlife, and our beloved downtown
peregrine falcons. This is a great opportunity to take action for nature while
enjoying some fresh air and good company.
We’ll work along sections
of the Riverfront Trail near the bridge and surrounding marsh areas, helping
remove litter and improve habitat for wildlife and the many people who enjoy
the trail.
• work gloves
• weather-appropriate clothing and footwear
• your Nature Moncton name tag (if you have one).
The City of Moncton will
provide garbage bags and non-latex gloves to wear over your work gloves. This
event is part of the City of Moncton’s Earth Week Cleanup.
After the cleanup, anyone interested is welcome to join us at Dandelion Café
(1035 Main Street, Moncton) for a warm drink or snack and some bird-friendly
conversation (optional and at participants’ own cost).
All ages are
welcome—Nature Moncton members and non-members alike.
**On Wednesday, Brian and
Annette Stone visited Highland Park and Wilson Marsh once again to enjoy
another spring outing. At Highland Park, Brian photographed a bright palm
warbler, a pair of equally bright male wood ducks, and a male yellow-bellied
sapsucker.
While Brian was
photographing the sapsucker, Annette alerted him to an odd noise coming from a
large tree beside the trail. After a few minutes of searching the side of the
tree that was in shadow, a grey squirrel that blended in nicely with the
grey bark came into focus and appeared to be making the noise. In the binocular
view a reason for the squirrel's immobility and different sounding noise became
clear as a second squirrel was seen hiding in a hole beside the first squirrel.
Brian assumes he and Annette were being warned away from a nesting site, and after a
couple photos they moved on.
At Wilson Marsh, Brian heard a woodpecker loudly pecking away at a tree near the trail and he spotted a male hairy woodpecker busily excavating a nesting hole. The female woodpecker was found on a tree a short distance away along the trail, assuming they are a mated pair.
(Editor’s note: Note in
Brian’s photo that the excavated hole of the woodpecker is the exact size of
its body, purposely done to allow nothing bigger than the woodpecker
to enter.)
A male green-winged teal duck, a pied-billed
grebe, evening grosbeaks, and what might be a small bumblebee on
willow catkins ( distant and backlit, so a low-quality photo) were also
photographed before Brian headed to the tree swallow area to take a hundred or
more photos of those new arrivals that will be sent another day.
**This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2026 April 25 – May 2
I was fascinated by the movie Hercules, starring bodybuilder Steve Reeves,
which I saw one Saturday afternoon at the long-gone Vogue theatre in McAdam
sometime in the early 60s. I was nurturing my interest in the sky at that time
so the constellation of Hercules has long been a part of my life. These spring
evenings it is in the east as twilight fades.
Look for a keystone asterism one third of the way from the bright star Vega
toward equally bright Arcturus; that is the upside-down body of the legendary strongman.
Hercules is usually depicted down on his right knee, with his left foot on the
head of Draco the Dragon and his head close to that of Ophiuchus. Originally
the constellation was called The Kneeler, and the star at his head is called
Rasalgethi for “head of the Kneeler.” It is the alpha star of the
constellation, although Kornephoros (the club bearer) is brighter.
With binoculars you can pick out two globular clusters from the Messier
catalogue in Hercules. Globular clusters are ancient compact groups of
typically tens-to-hundreds of thousands of stars that orbit our galaxy’s core.
One third of the way from the top right star of the Keystone to the bottom
right star is M13, perhaps the finest globular cluster in the northern
hemisphere. A line from the bottom right star through the middle of the top of
the Keystone, and extended about an equal distance, will put you in the area of
M92, one of the oldest objects in our galaxy.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:15 and sunset will occur at 8:19, giving
14 hours, 4 minutes of daylight (6:22 and 8:22 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 6:04 and set at 8:28, giving 14 hours, 24 minutes of
daylight (6:11 and 8:31 in Saint John).
The Moon skims below Regulus in Leo on Saturday (International Astronomy
Day), passes near Spica in Virgo on Wednesday and it is full on Friday. Venus
is getting higher each evening, working its way toward a close conjunction with
Jupiter in early June. On Monday telescope users might see Jupiter’s moon
Ganymede reappear from behind the planet at 11:16 pm with the Red Spot in view
near the middle. By the end of the week Saturn will be rising an hour before
sunrise followed by Mars ten minutes later. Mercury is moving too close to the
Sun for observing.
Tune in to the 300th edition of 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 at 7 pm on May
2.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
