** Dave Miller reports observing a WILSON'S SNIPE [Bécassine des marais] on
Thursday at Shepody Marsh by a small brook that flows into the marsh.
** It's that time of year. Brian Coyle comments that he has been hearing
woodpecker territorial hammering around his Lower Mountain Rd. home over the
last few days, and watched a pair in a mating dance outside his window on
Thursday morning. Just wait until the NORTHERN FLICKERS [Pic flamboyant] and
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS [Pic macule] arrive and start hammering on stove
pipes, chimneys, mailboxes, hydro towers, etc!
** Jean-Paul and Stella LeBlanc had their first COMMON GRACKLES [Quiscale
bronze] appear to their Bouctouche feeder yard on Thursday. The trickle of this
advance guard will lead to the arrival of the large flocks we expect each year
at this time, and they will stay in large flocks until the influx of females
arrive and then will be off to breeding territories.
** Anna Tucker visited the Amherst Point Bird Sanctuary on Thursday morning
for an hour to find lots of activity. There were BLUE JAYS [Geai bleu], RED
SQUIRRELS [Écureuil roux], a few EASTERN CHIPMUNKS [Suisse] that enjoyed the
scraps they shared with them. They enjoyed feeding the BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES
[Mésange à tête noire] and RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES [Sittelle à poitrine rousse],
many coming to their hand for black oil sunflower seed and nyjer seed. Always
nice to get reports from nearby Amherst Point Sanctuary.
** Each year I place a few branches from different trees or shrubs in a
vase of water to let them leaf out and flower and let spring fever happen a bit
early. I placed some branches from that famous MAGNOLIA tree at 22 Derby St. in
Moncton in a vase of water in the house on Feb. 19th. As of March 10th, the
first striking bloom is fully open with lots more to follow over the next
several days. I'm attaching an over and under photo of a 5-inch across bloom.
I also put what I think are BAYBERRY branches in a vase on the same date, and
buds are starting to burst as of March 10th.
** The upcoming week's Sky-at-a-Glance is added to this transcription
courtesy of Curt Nason.
This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, March 12 – March 19
With Easter just a couple of weeks away, now might be a good time to
practise your egg hunting skills. Rather than candy eggs we will search
for a few obscure constellations that make finding last week’s Minor
constellations a piece of cake. 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 the Hydra, very near the horizon, is Antlia the Air
Pump. Nicholas Louis de La Caille 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 6:37 am and sunset will occur at
6:22 pm, giving 11 hours, 45 minutes of daylight (6:42 am and 6:27 pm in
Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:23 am and set at 7:31
pm, giving 12 hours, 8 minutes of daylight (7:28 am and 7:36 pm in Saint
John). Remember to set your clocks ahead this weekend, late Saturday or
early Sunday (or at 2 am AST if you are particular). The day with a
daylight amount closest to 12 hours is March 17, and the next day
Moncton and Saint John have equal daylight.
The Moon is at first quarter on Tuesday. Use a scope to try for the
Lunar X that evening, just within the shadow a little more than halfway
down. Sunlight catches the rims of three craters to form an X that lasts
for a few hours. Jupiter appears successively higher in the east after
sunset, giving the best telescopic views of its two cloud belts and
moons late in the evening. Saturn and Mars form a triangle with the star
Antares below. Compare the colour of this star with that of Mars. Ares
was the Greek god of war and Mars was his Roman counterpart. The name
Antares means “rival of Mars.” Mercury and Venus are too close to the
Sun for viewing.
The provincial astronomy club, RASC NB, meets at Moncton High School on
March 19 at 1 pm. All are welcome.
Questions? Contact me at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
With Easter just a couple of weeks away, now might be a good time to
practise your egg hunting skills. Rather than candy eggs we will search
for a few obscure constellations that make finding last week’s Minor
constellations a piece of cake. 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 the Hydra, very near the horizon, is Antlia the Air
Pump. Nicholas Louis de La Caille 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 6:37 am and sunset will occur at
6:22 pm, giving 11 hours, 45 minutes of daylight (6:42 am and 6:27 pm in
Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:23 am and set at 7:31
pm, giving 12 hours, 8 minutes of daylight (7:28 am and 7:36 pm in Saint
John). Remember to set your clocks ahead this weekend, late Saturday or
early Sunday (or at 2 am AST if you are particular). The day with a
daylight amount closest to 12 hours is March 17, and the next day
Moncton and Saint John have equal daylight.
The Moon is at first quarter on Tuesday. Use a scope to try for the
Lunar X that evening, just within the shadow a little more than halfway
down. Sunlight catches the rims of three craters to form an X that lasts
for a few hours. Jupiter appears successively higher in the east after
sunset, giving the best telescopic views of its two cloud belts and
moons late in the evening. Saturn and Mars form a triangle with the star
Antares below. Compare the colour of this star with that of Mars. Ares
was the Greek god of war and Mars was his Roman counterpart. The name
Antares means “rival of Mars.” Mercury and Venus are too close to the
Sun for viewing.
The provincial astronomy club, RASC NB, meets at Moncton High School on
March 19 at 1 pm. All are welcome.
Questions? Contact me at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
BAYBERRY.MARCH 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER (2)
BAYBERRY.MARCH 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER (2)
MAGNOLIA (TOP VIEW).MARCH 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER
MAGNOLIA BLOOM (UNDER VIEW).MARCH 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER
MAGNOLIA BLOOM (UNDER VIEW).MARCH 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER
Sextans_Antlia_Pyxis
