Nature Moncton Nature
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Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**Rheal Vienneau is
starting to rear a few newly hatched monarch butterfly caterpillars with
eggs obtained from Yolande LeBlanc’s butterfly weed a few days ago.
It has been a very bad
year so far for monarch butterfly sightings for Rheal, seeing only one this season, which could very suddenly change.
Rheal also shares a short video of the young caterpillars:
(Editor’s note: note the
water container that often comes with floral bouquets Rheal uses to start the
very small caterpillars.)
**Greg Rogers reports on
some nesting activity in his St. Anselme backyard.
He spotted a nest of chipping
sparrows on June 24, and then again on June 28 (amazing how quickly they
grew - they fledged mere days later).
A photo of the cedar
waxwing nestling was taken Tuesday. Greg first found the nest on June
25 -- it was made very quickly over the course of a couple of days, as there had
been nothing there a few days before when they were trimming that willow
tree. They didn't know what kind of nest it was initially, but then they saw a cedar waxwing
sitting on it on June 27. It sat on the nest constantly until
Tuesday, when they noticed she wasn't there and snapped the attached photo.
(Editor’s note: the cedar
waxwing is a late-in-the-season nester in order to time its nesting with the ripening of berries which they use as a
nesting food supply.)
**Louise Nichols shares
some photos she took on the Wednesday night walk at Pointe-du-Chêne.
Thanks to Marbeth Wilson for guiding the group.
On Wednesday afternoon,
Louise visited Wilson Marsh to try to find some of the uncommon dragonflies
Brian Stone has found there. She did see one female blue dasher
dragonfly, but had no luck with the widow skimmers. She also shares a
photo of a pied-billed grebe family, maybe the same that Brian
photographed when they were much younger.
**Hudson Rogers spotted
and photographed a greater scaup in Rotary St. Anselme Park in Dieppe on
Thursday. Hudson reported it, as they are not commonly seen this time of year and
usually show up during spring/fall migration.
Hudson photographed a mallard duck for size comparison.
He comments that he felt
his target was a greater scaup rather than a lesser scaup because its head is
more rounded, the black tip of its beak extends slightly to the sides, and its
head reflects green.
**Jane LeBlanc had a white
admiral butterfly return Thursday, and got photos. She also had one of
three monarch butterflies still laying eggs on her milkweed. She noticed
an American robin enjoying her serviceberries. In addition, she found a crab spider
on her milkweed plants.
**Katie Girvan
photographed one of our many Geometer moth species that landed on her hand.
This one is suspected to be the light emerald moth, which can mimic the
colour and texture of tree bark to protect against predators.
**The common tern platform
at the end of Railway Avenue, Pointe-du-Chêne, created a lot of interest on
Wednesday.
Elaine Gallant collected a
bit more historical information on the project. It was started by the Shediac Watershed
Group some 10 years ago and is one of the more notable local conservation
success stories. In the early years of the project (2015), the platform had 41
nesting pairs and just over 100 eggs. Since that time, it has grown in size to 150-200 pairs, with seasonal weather causing variation.
Being offshore keeps
predators like foxes, raccoons, and rats away, but it remains subject to storms.
**This Week’s Sky at a
Glance, 2026 July 18 – July 25
They say it is the little things that count, and if you are counting
constellations there are four little ones lined up in the southeast toward late
evening. Start your search with the Summer Triangle, which is composed of the
brightest star in each of three constellations: Vega in Lyra the Lyre, Deneb in
Cygnus the Swan, and Altair in Aquila the Eagle. Sagitta the Arrow is a
distinct shape between Altair and Albireo, which is at the head of Cygnus. The
arrow, poisoned with the blood of the Hydra, is one of those shot by Hercules
to kill the Stymphalian birds as his sixth Labour.
Between Sagitta and Albireo is obscure Vulpecula the Fox, which at one time was
two constellations called the Little Fox and the Goose. Vulpecula is known best
for having the binocular object M27, the Dumbbell Nebula, within its borders.
Below Sagitta is the eye-catching Delphinus the Dolphin, seen leaping out of
the watery constellations that hug the horizon below. The dolphin was given its
place of honour in the sky by Poseidon for convincing beautiful Amphitrite to
be his wife. Below Delphinus and just off the snout of Pegasus the Flying Horse
is Equuleus the Little Horse, the second smallest of the 88 constellations.
Perhaps representing the foal Celeris, an offspring or brother of Pegasus, it
was one of the 48 constellations included in Claudius Ptolemy’s second-century
map of the sky.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 5:45 and sunset will occur at 9:04, giving
15 hours, 19 minutes of daylight (5:53 and 9:06 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 5:53 and set at 8:57, giving 15 hours, 4 minutes of
daylight (6:01 and 8:59 in Saint John).
The Moon is at first quarter on Tuesday and near Antares in Scorpius
next Friday. By midweek Venus will be setting around 11 pm with Saturn
rising around midnight. Mars rises to the left of similarly-hued Aldebaran in
Taurus a few hours later. By next weekend Mercury will be rising nearly an hour
before sunrise, but Jupiter is out of sight as it reaches conjunction the
following week.
The next RASC NB star party takes place at Mactaquac Provincial Park on July
17-18.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
