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.
The weather the past few
days information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
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at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com, as well as proofreader nicholsl@eastlink.ca, if any errors are noted in wording or photo
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Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**Our President, Cathy
Simon, has shared her latest Field Notes from the President.
While this letter is distributed directly to members, we’re pleased to make it
available here for our broader community, Friends of Nature Moncton, as well.
(Editor’s note: You will
all enjoy Cathy’s well-done message that gives food for thought for all
naturalists.)
Read the full message
here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z61ewa96vp2g230zwfmyw/2026-02-18-Field-Notes-from-the-President.pdf?rlkey=i9phtjq6nvq7w5zdwkm5s7eb1&st=lpe4k4vi&dl=0
**Don MacAulay
photographed a hungry white-tailed deer at their Nature Moncton feeder located on the property of their Blue Heron condominiums near Rabbit Brook in Moncton.
(Editor’s note: as with
many urban white-tailed deer, no white tail flagged up in alarm with a nearby
photographer!)
**The snow conditions on
Wednesday were ideal for any fresh tracks. Brian Coyle estimated that the bobcat
tracks/trail he photographed
were no more than 8 hours old. The tracks were approximately 2" x 2"
and quite round. The gait was around 18". The rear heel pad has 3 lobes
and lands on top of the front footprint on the same side, while the front heel
pad has 2 lobes.
(Editor’s note: I suspect
that it would be difficult to have a substrate that would produce photographs
of bobcat tracks much better than Brian has shared.)
**John Inman comments that
they have seen decent flocks of common redpolls, American goldfinch, pine siskins,
and purple finch so far this winter. Still, few are coming to feeders, which likely means they have a good supply of wild food sources available to them. A group of pine
siskins was in a yard birch tree, and one decided to try out the feeder
with a photograph to follow.
John also took note of a pussy
willow shrub with the bud scales fallen away to show the developing bud
readying for spring.
**On Wednesday, Brian
Stone visited the Hillsborough Wetlands Trail and had a nice walk in pleasant
weather, but found no wildlife to photograph. In desperation, he sends a few
photos anyway of a couple of interesting items that might be worthy of a look. On
a bridge railing, he photographed a patch of British soldier lichen that
he had photographed many times before. A section of the same patch can be seen
in the July 18, 2023, edition of the blog. He also photographed sinewed bushy lichen (Ramalina americana), and a small vireo nest composed mainly of
woven strips of birch bark hanging in the "v" of a tree branch.
On Thursday evening, Cathy
Simon alerted Brian to the interesting apparition of the waxing crescent
Moon hanging low on the south/western horizon. Brian made three different
photo exposures of the 8% crescent, showing the other 92% of the Moon dimly
lit by reflected Earthshine, and combined the three exposures into one
image.
**This Week’s Sky at a
Glance, 2026 February 21 – February 28
This is a good time to search for a few obscure constellations, if you are up
for the challenge. The trio will be at their best, as it were, an hour or two
before midnight. You will need dark, clear skies and a good view to the south.
Below Regulus, at the heart of Leo and to the left of Alphard in serpentine
Hydra, is a collection of faint stars that forms Sextans the Sextant. Johannes
Hevelius, the creator of Leo Minor, came up with this constellation to
commemorate the sextant that he used for measuring star positions, and which he
lost when his observatory burned in 1679. Good luck with seeing a sextant here;
perhaps it represents what was left after the fire.
Below Sextans and Hydra, very near the horizon, is Antlia the Air Pump.
Nicholas Louis de LaCaille was an 18th century astronomer who also created
obscure constellations to fill in gaps in the sky. The laboratory air pump is
one of several scientific instruments honoured with a position in the stars
during that era, but in our sky it seems to be past its prime. If you think of
a compass as a needle then Pyxis the Compass does look like what it represents.
It is between Antlia and Puppis to its right, again low in our sky even at its
best. Originally part of the mast of Argo Navis in Ptolemy’s star chart, La
Caille reimagined it as a mariner’s compass, although it is pretty much lost in
our sky.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:12 and sunset will occur at 5:54, giving
10 hours, 42 minutes of daylight (7:15 and 6:00 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 6:59 and set at 6:04, giving 11 hours, 5 minutes of
daylight (7:03 and 6:10 in Saint John).
The Moon is near the Pleiades on Monday, one day before first quarter, and
near Jupiter Thursday. This Saturday telescope users can see
Jupiter’s moon Io disappear behind the planet at 6:40 and reappear from the
planet’s shadow at 9:53, with the Red Spot approaching mid-transit. This
weekend at 6:30 pm Venus will be a binocular width above the western horizon,
setting before 7, with Mercury within two binocular widths above it and Saturn
two binocular widths to Mercury’s upper left. By next weekend Venus will be to
the left of now dimmer Mercury.
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
BOBCAT TRAIL. FEB 18, 2026. BRIAN COYLE
BOBCAT TRACK. FEB 18, 2026. BRIAN COYLE
BOBCAT TRACK. FEB 18, 2026. BRIAN COYLE
PINE SISKIN. FEB 19, 2026. JOHN INMAN
WHITE-TAILED DEER. FEB 19, 2026. DON MacAULEY
WHITE-TAILED DEER. FEB 19, 2026. DON MacAULEY
BRITISH SOLDIER LICHEN. FEB. 18, 2026. BRIAN STONE
BRITISH SOLDIER LICHEN. FEB. 18, 2026. BRIAN STONE
SINEWED BUSHY LICHEN (Ramalina americana). FEB. 18, 2026. BRIAN STONE
SINEWED BUSHY LICHEN (Ramalina americana). FEB. 18, 2026. BRIAN STONE
CRESCENT MOON (WAXING PHASE - 8%). FEB. 19, 2026. BRIAN STONE
PUSSY WILLOW BUDS EMERGING. FEB 19, 2026. JOHN INMAN
VIREO NEST. FEB. 18, 2026. BRIAN STONE
Sextans Antlia Pyxis
