Nature Moncton Nature News: March 18 2016

** Glen Nichols' rich garden area in Sackville was very attractive to an AMERICAN WOODCOCK [Bécasse d'Amérique] a few days ago, and Louise Nichols was there to catch the action with photos of a Woodcock probing in the soil and getting a nice fresh grub. Louise has been out a dusk a few nights to listen for displays, but had not heard any as of Thursday night. They seem to be more interested in the garden booty at the moment. The American Woodcock sometimes gets the name Timberdoodle.

** Lois Budd had a great St. Patty's day at her Salisbury feeder yard. First a female NORTHERN CARDINAL [Cardinal rouge] dropped by along with 60 EVENING GROSBEAKS [Gros-bec errant] that she thought had left her. In the afternoon, a male NORTHERN CARDINAL [Cardinal rouge] came by as well as a FOX SPARROW [Bruant fauve]. Late in the day, a BROWN CREEPER [Grimpereau brun] decided to visit the tree just outside her window. Lois was able to capture a photo of the Brown Creeper and the male Cardinal skulking in the bushes.

** When the Nature Moncton field trip last Sunday visited the Hampton sewage lagoon, 5 TURKEY VULTURES [Urubu à tête rouge] were floating over the area. One had a tag on the right wing, but the flight photos of Sunday were not clear enough to read the tag. Carmella Melanson was in the area on Tuesday to find the bird perched on a fence and got a photo to read the letters. Richard Blacquiere has been following the scenario of this bird and I'm adding Richard's words on the background of this bird.

“Last year, on 19 April 2015, a Turkey Vulture with a wing tag was spotted
roosting with 22 other Vultures at the Hampton Sewage lagoon. A photo
revealed that the lettering on the tag read HTP. After submitting the
sighting to the Bird Banding Laboratory, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center,
in Maryland, it turned out that this bird had been tagged near Key West,
Florida on 3 Feb 2013. An additional piece of information was that the
Vulture hatched in 2012. So, this bird was approximately 3 years old when
first seen in Hampton. The tagged Vulture was seen intermittently after
that, the last sighting being on 13 July 2015.

This past Sunday, 13 March 2016, a small group of birders spotted some
apparently newly returned Vultures soaring over the Hampton lagoon. One of
these birds clearly had a wing tag, but photos of the bird in flight were
not of high enough resolution to read the tag. A couple of days later (15
March), Carmella Melanson was travelling through the area and stopped at the
Hampton lagoon. She found the tagged Vulture sitting on the fence and
managed to get a photo where the tag could be clearly seen. The letter
combination, HTP, confirmed this was the same bird as last year.

The Vulture tagging program is part of a research project being conducted by
the US Department of Agriculture. More information can be found at:

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/wildlifedamage/programs/nwrc/research-areas/sa_invasive_wildlife/ct_avian_invasive_species

** Brian Coyle had his flock of BLACKBIRDS [Red-winged and Common Grackles] arrive on Thursday morning along with nearly 20 bright male AMERICAN ROBINS [Merle d'Amérique] to his lower Mountain Rd. feeder yard. He also had 5 WHITE-TAILED DEER [Cerf de Virginie] walk by his window nose-to-tail, in a row, on Wednesday morning and two on Thursday morning followed the exact same route. Brian's YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER [Paruline à croupion jaune] that arrived to his suet feeder approximately 10 days ago continues to be a daily patron.

** Jean-Paul and Stella LeBlanc report some first-of-the-year birds have arrived to their Bouctouche feeder yard this week to include COMMON REDPOLL [Sizerin flame], PINE SISKINS [Tarin des pins], BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS [Vacher à tête brune], RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS [Carouge à epaulettes] and COMMON GRACKLES [Quiscale bronze].

** Janet Cormier has also had a busy feeder yard at her location off the Salisbury Rd. As others are suddenly seeing, PINE SISKINS [Tarin des pins] have arrived for Janet as well as a swelling of expected regulars.

** Brian Stone captured a nice photo of a male PILEATED WOODPECKER [Grand pic] in Mapleton Park recently and also had an AMERICAN CROW [Corneille d'Amérique] very intent on picking every edible morsel of a bone it had found.

** This week's Sky-at-a-Glance is added to this transcription, courtesy of Curt Nason.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, March 19 – March 26
This being the week leading up to Easter, let us look for signs of it in
the sky. Lambs have long been associated with spring and Easter, so we
can start with Aries the Ram in the west. For many, the symbol of Easter
is Peter Cottontail, the Easter Bunny. When darkness sets in we can see
Lepus the Hare below the feet of Orion. I see the constellation as three
vertical pairs of stars, with the brightest pair in the middle and the
widest to the right. With a reasonably dark sky you can see the bunny
ears between the widest pair and Orion’s brightest star, Rigel.

In Germanic mythology, Ostara, the goddess of spring, found a wounded
bird and changed it into a hare so that it could survive. This animal
was allowed to run as fast as it could fly and retained the ability to
lay eggs, which it did in spring to honour its rescuer. The Saxon name
for the goddess was Eostre.

Sunrise services are a popular way to celebrate Easter, and perhaps a
good time to look for religious Easter symbols in the sky if you are an
hour or two early. The Northern Cross, the most recognizable part of
Cygnus the Swan, is high in the east among the procession of
constellations. Look for semicircular Corona Borealis to the southwest,
one third of the way from the bright star Arcturus toward equally bright
Vega. Can you picture this as a cave with an open door? It does play the
role of a cave in a local aboriginal legend of the Big Dipper.

I think the best symbol is seen on the Moon when it is full or nearly
so. When it rises in spring, look for the dark bunny ears to the upper
right. With them identified, isn’t difficult to picture Peter Cottontail
clutching a giant egg.

This Week in the Solar System

Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:23 am and sunset will occur at
7:31 pm, giving 12 hours, 8 minutes of daylight (7:28 am and 7:36 pm in
Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:10 am and set at 7:40
pm, giving 12 hours, 30 minutes of daylight (7:15 am and 7:45 pm in
Saint John). The Sun crosses the equator at 1:30 am on Sunday, marking
the vernal equinox or the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere.

The full Worm Moon occurs on Wednesday. Since this is the first full
Moon in spring, the following Sunday is Easter. There is a caveat to
this, in that to determine the date for Easter it is assumed spring
always occurs on March 21. Easter can occur any time between March 22
and April 25, inclusive. The Moon passes a thumb-width below Jupiter
after midnight on Monday evening. If you look at Jupiter in a scope
before 9:37 on Wednesday evening you might notice an oddity: only one of
its four large moons is visible. The other three are either in front of
or behind the planet and all will have reappeared by 10:46 pm. Mars
moves to within 10 degrees of Saturn this week, with the pair making an
ever-changing triangle with Antares below. Mercury is at superior
conjunction behind the Sun on Wednesday, and Venus has gone on vacation
until summer.

The provincial astronomy club, RASC NB, meets at Moncton High School on
March 19 at 1 pm. All are welcome. Some RASC NB members will be teaming
with the Science East planetarium staff at Regent Mall in Fredericton
from 11 am to 2 pm on March 19, and offering public solar viewing near
Wal-Mart if the Sun is visible.

Questions? Contact me at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton