Nature Moncton Nature
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October 31, 2025
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**On Thursday, Brian Stone
found a group of at least a dozen cedar waxwings feasting on tiny apples
in a tree along a path at Wilson Marsh. The waxwings tried out apples until they found one that was soft, then picked it apart, while a few
more impatient individuals just swallowed the apples whole. That action looked
so uncomfortable that Brian wondered why they all didn't just pick apart the soft apples instead, but he guessed it wasn't as bad as it looked, or it wouldn't have happened.
**Brian Stone was
surprised to see wood sorrel in prime bloom on his front walkway.
(Editor’s note: Wood
sorrel is a cold-hardy plant, as are several others, such as evening primrose, and butter-and-eggs (yellow toadflax), as examples. These last vestiges of fall
can often be appreciated until temperatures drop well below freezing/snow
cover.)
**The flying squirrels
enjoying Halloween peanut butter (Kraft smooth preferred) at Nelson Poirier’s
feeders have asked for one more showing to better show their large bushy tails,
protruding eyes, and tucked-in patagium (rimmed with white edge), which they
will simply spread out to glide to another tree to frustrate a feral cat with
unsuccessful thoughts on mind.
(Editor’s note: a
statement in yesterday’s edition has been corrected. Our other night shift
operator, the bat is indeed a mammal as well, but the only mammal capable of
sustaining true flight.)
**We are about to enter
the most interesting part of the season for gull watching. Our gull community
is at the moment taking on their winter plumage, which will remain until early
spring, when the immature gulls will advance to the next stage of development to adult plumage.
To illustrate this, a
photo of a juvenile ring-billed gull, taken on October 11, is attached.
This gull will be sporting its first winter teenage plumage by November 29 when
Nelson Poirier and Richard Blacguiere will be giving a gull workshop.
**Brian
Stone tried once more on Tuesday evening to get some photos of Comet C/2025
A6 (Lemmon) before the Moon got too high and bright for decent photography
and viewing, and managed to get a few that didn't have satellite tracks going
through them, but just a few. The new reality for astrophotographers and
astronomers is the presence of multiple satellite tracks in almost all of their
photos, and it's only going to get worse in the future.
(Editor’s
note: Being a neophyte sky watcher, I am wondering if this may be the answer to
some of the UFOs reported!)
**(Editor's
note: It’s almost hard to believe that Curt’s report below is really for the
first week of November. What has happened to summer/fall?)
This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2025 November 1 – November 8
With the time change this weekend there will likely be much griping about
the practice. There will be mention of the inconvenience of resetting
old-fashioned clocks, driving home in the dark, increases in vehicle accidents
and heart attacks. I checked out a reference to a study in the Southern USA
that showed an increase in fatal vehicle accidents during the week after time
changes. There was a 5% increase, but only for the spring change to DST and
only in the morning; back to darkness just when people were finally getting
daylight for commuting. You won’t drive home from work in the dark as much if
we stay on DST throughout winter but you can’t have it both ways. On DST
sunrise would be after 8 am from November through February, with two weeks of
that after 9 am. Our circadian rhythm needs morning sunshine.
As an amateur astronomer I don’t enjoy waiting until very late evening in
summer to share views through my telescope. However, most people love the extra
evening light during the outdoor months. Whereas the biggest beef against the
time change is the temporary disruption of our biological clock, I suggest we
start it at 2 am on the Saturday of the Victoria Day weekend to allow most
people two or three days to adjust before returning to work or school. Saturday
morning of Thanksgiving weekend is a logical time to fall back to Standard Time
since summer activities have ceased.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 8:00 and sunset will occur at 6:04, giving
10 hours, 4 minutes of daylight (8:03 and 6:11 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 7:10 and set at 4:54, giving 9 hours, 44 minutes of
daylight (7:13 and 5:02 in Saint John). Set your timepieces back one hour at 2
am Sunday.
The Moon is full and at perigee on Wednesday, making this the closest full
Moon of the year. Expect extreme tides near the end of the week. The Moon
is near Saturn on Sunday and near the Pleiades Thursday. This weekend Mercury
is low in the southwest, setting about 59 minutes after sunset, with Mars two
binocular widths to its right. Mercury would be difficult to see with
binoculars, Mars is much dimmer.’s Venus rises in Virgo to the lower left of
Spica at 5:50 am midweek, when Jupiter is at its highest to the south.
Binocular comet 2025 A6 Lemmon will be dimming and getting lower as it moves
across the bottom of Ophiuchus over the week. See the Heavens Above website for
its location at any time. The South Taurid meteor shower peaks on Wednesday,
one week before the North Taurids, but bright moonlight will make meteor
observing difficult,
The Saint
John Astronomy Club meets in the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre this
Saturday at 7 pm. 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.
nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
CEDAR WAXWING. OCT. 30, 2025. BRIAN STONE
CEDAR WAXWING. OCT. 30, 2025. BRIAN STONE
CEDAR WAXWING. OCT. 30, 2025. BRIAN STONE
RING-BILLED GULL (JUVENILE). OCT. 11, 2025. BRIAN STONE
FLYING SQUIRREL. OCT 30, 2025. NELSON POIRIER
FLYING SQUIRREL. OCT 30, 2025. NELSON POIRIER
WOOD SORREL. OCT 30, 2025. BRIAN STONE
COMET C-2025 A6 (LEMMON). OCT. 28, 2025. BRIAN STONE
COMET C-2025 A6 (LEMMON). (WITH SATELLITE TRACKS). OCT. 28, 2025. BRIAN STONE
COMET C-2025 A6 (LEMMON). (WITH SATELLITE TRACKS). OCT. 28, 2025. BRIAN STONE
