Nature Moncton Nature News: March 28, 2015

**More apparent new arrivals at John Inman's 225 Mary's Point Road

feeder yard – his overwintering female RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD [Carouge à

epaulettes] had a male join her in the morning, and in the afternoon

two COMMON GRACKLES [Quiscale bronzé] arrived. John has had one SONG

SPARROW [Bruant chanteur] overwintering but it swelled to three on

Wednesday.

**Dave Christie gives a second-hand report from Connie Colpitts and Ron

Steeves, who did a stakeout at New Horton Ridge to note four migrating

RED-TAILED HAWKS [Buse à queue rousse] and another acting like it may

have overwintered there. At Cape Enrage they saw groups of EIDERS

[Eider] out offshore in the water there.

**Norm Mulock, who has been getting a group of BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS

[Jaseur boréal] regularly to his West End Flowering Crab tree

[Pommetier ornemental] with two PINE GROSBEAKS [Durbec des sapins]

suddenly got an influx of 15 Pine Grosbeaks on Friday evening.

**Linda Banks has had a very persistent Crow [Corneille] tapping on

windows, not sure whether it's seeing its reflection as an interloper

or potential mate, or trying to ring the dinner bell. She has also had

SNOW BUNTINGS [Plectrophane des neiges] arrive in small numbers. Her

photos show them as getting very bright in spring plumage. A female

RING-NECKED PHEASANT [Faisan de Colchide] also keeps an eye on things

from a yard tree. Linda also had a CEDAR WAXWING [Jaseur d'Amérique]

to a yard fruit tree on January 20th. Linda lives in the former

Bridgedale area of Riverview.

**Our NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD [Moqueur polyglotte] has taken a leave of

absence for some reason for the last four days, and the Bohemian

Waxwings very quickly moved in to the fruit tray, at approximately

20-25 birds. The fruit tray is well-laden with frozen grapes from the

fall, rose hips, pomegranate, blueberries, dried currants, and frozen

overripe bananas. They've suddenly decided that all is to their

liking, possibly due to the fruit not being frozen as hard as it was

earlier, or their wild larder is getting more sparse. That number of

Waxwings sure fill the fruit tray when they decide to feed all at

once.

**We've received great photos from the photographers we met on Monday

at Cardwell Farms composting site. They got great photos of Gulls

[Goéland] in feeding frenzy that is a great opportunity to look at age

classes and species, and especially the windows (a.k.a. mirrors) on

P10 and nearby primary feathers in birds with their wings up. They

also got a nice Red-tailed Hawk in the air and lots of Eagles

[Pygargue à tête blanche] which we'll try to get age-classed for a

sharing session later.

Attached is this week’s Sky at a Glance a day late.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, March 27 – April 4

On Sunday night, March 29, the Moon and Jupiter cross the sky together. Although they look fairly near each other, looks in astronomy are deceiving. Jupiter is almost 1,800 times farther away than the Moon,

On Tuesday, March 31, the waxing gibbous Moon shines beneath Regulus and the Sickle of Leo early this evening. Farther upper right of the Moon shines bright Jupiter. By late evening, the sky rotates to place Jupiter to the Moon's right.

On Wednesday, April 1, the coming of April always finds Orion in the southwest at dusk, leaning over with his three-star belt almost horizontal. The belt points left toward bright Sirius, and to the right toward Aldebaran and, farther on, the Pleiades.

On Saturday, April 4, the Moon will go into its Full Phase meaning we will see it all night. Expect higher high tides and lower low tides.

On Saturday, March 28, the sun rose at 7:05 a.m. and will set at 7:42 p.m. giving 12 hours 36 minutes of daylight. On Saturday, April 4, the sun will rise at 6:52 a.m. and set at 7:51 p.m. to give 12 hours 59 minutes of daylight hours. (These values are for Moncton, New Brunswick).

This Week's Planet Roundup

Mercury is hidden in the glare of the Sun.

Venus (magnitude –4.0) blazes in the west during and after twilight — the unmistakable "Evening Star." It doesn't set in the west-northwest until a good hour and a half after complete dark. Look for the Pleiades above it, closer every day. The little cluster will pass to Venus's right on April 10th and 11th.

Mars (magnitude +1.4, less than 1% as bright as Venus) is gradually sinking farther down to the lower right of Venus in twilight. It's 15° below Venus on March 27th and 18° below it by April 3rd.

Jupiter (magnitude –2.4) shines high in the south at dusk. It's the brightest point of light on that side of the sky.

Saturn (magnitude +0.3) rises around midnight and is highest in the south in early-morning hours. Below or lower left of Saturn, by 8°, is orange Antares, not quite as bright.

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca