Nature Moncton Nature News: July 1 2016

** Aldo Dorio got some nice photos of a VICEROY [Vice-roi] butterfly in his home yard on June 30th that help remind us of its similarities with the Monarch butterfly that so many are watching for to refresh us so we do not confuse them. Aldo also shares a frontal photo of one of our insectivorous plants, the PITCHER PLANT, that is opening in boggy habitat at the moment.

** Bob Blake's monthly weather statistics to compare June 2015 to June 2016 are added to today's transcription. It looks like we had a noticeably warmer June of 2016 than June 2015.

** Bob Blake maintains a record of daily morning low temperatures, daily highs, and monthly precipitation from his Second North River home. He compares June 2015 and June 2016 to show that June 2015 was a cooler month overall than June 2016 with less precipitation for June 2016.

JUNE 2015:

11 mornings 10 ° C and below (lowest morning +2°) 8 mornings above 10 °C (highest morning 16°) the highest daytime temperature recorded was 29° C. Precipitation was 203 mm rain.

June 2016:

6 mornings 10 ° C and below (lowest morning 8°) 26 mornings above 10 °C (highest morning 22°) The highest day temperature recorded was 32°C with a few others close to that. Precipitation was 171 mm rain.

If the days don’t add up correctly for one month, it is due to Bob not being available those days however the general trend can be seen of a noticeably warmer June of 2016 with less precipitation.

** Louise Nichols and I made a very rewarding visit to the White Birch Ducks Unlimited impoundment near Sackville on Thursday, entering it at an entry point on the Upper Aboujagane Rd. that Louise found out about recently. The main event were the BLACK TERNS [Guifette noire] which were very busy fishing the pond and carrying the prey to a particular site apparently where the nests are. One thing that really struck us about the terns was the amount of pale gray white showing in flight with the exception of the black body and head. We never saw any perched or landed, but always in flight, and extremely difficult to get a photo of with our cameras. A small bog in the area had many CALOPOGAN ORCHIDS in full bloom and some ARETHUSA ORCHIDS. An orchid suspected to be the WHITE-FRINGED BOG ORCHID was emerging to be in bloom the next week. Louise got a nice photo of a PALM WARBLER [Paruline à couronne rousse] in that bog. Marsh plants such as BLADDERWORT and BUR-REED were noted. GREEN FROGS [Grenouille verte] were vocalizing, but it was nice to hear some MINK FROGS [Grenouille du Nord] vocalizing as well. An awesome area of life, compliments of Ducks Unlimited.

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

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, July 2 – July 9
As twilight fades Jupiter and Mars really catch your eye at about the
same altitude in the west and south, respectively. Glancing from one to
the other you might notice a bright blue-white star halfway between
them. This is Spica in the large constellation of Virgo the Maiden. A
somewhat diamond shape of four stars, anchored by Spica, forms her body
and a string of stars stretches outward from each of them. Virgo is
usually associated with agriculture and justice, with Spica representing
a sheaf of wheat or ear of corn in her hand. Virgo is one of the zodiac
constellations and Spica is near enough to the ecliptic that it is one
of the four first magnitude stars that can be occulted by the Moon. The
others are Aldebaran in Taurus, Regulus in Leo, and Antares in Scorpius.

In Greek mythology Virgo was Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. Her
daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades and taken to his underworld
kingdom. Distraught, Demeter neglected her duties while searching for
her daughter and no crops could grow. With life on the planet in
jeopardy, Zeus struck a deal with Hades that would allow Persephone to
spend half the year with her mother and half in the underworld. Virgo is
seen in the sky during the six months that mother and daughter are together.

Virgo is known to amateur astronomers for the numerous galaxies that can
be seen with a telescope within its boundary, including 11 from the
Messier catalogue. The giant galaxy M87 anchors the Virgo supercluster
of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way and others in our local cluster.

This Week in the Solar System

Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 5:33 am and sunset will occur at
9:14 pm, giving 15 hours, 41 minutes of daylight (5:41 am and 9:15 pm in
Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 5:38 am and set at 9:11
pm, giving 15 hours, 33 minutes of daylight (5:46 am and 9:13 pm in
Saint John). On Monday Earth is at aphelion, its greatest distance from
the Sun for the year. Leave the parka in the closet.

The Moon is new on Monday so this is a good weekend for campers to scan
the Milky Way with binoculars late at night, looking for star clusters
and other faint objects that are normally washed out by moonlight. The
Moon will be near Regulus on Thursday evening. Jupiter dominates the
western sky in the evening. Use binoculars or a scope to see its largest
moon Ganymede reappear from Jupiter’s shadow around 9:54 pm on Tuesday.
Mars has resumed its eastward motion against the stars, making a move on
Antares and Saturn over the next eight weeks.

The Saint John Astronomy Club meets at the Rockwood Park Interpretation
Centre on July 2 at 7pm. All are welcome to attend. If you are at
Mactaquac provincial park campground on July 8-9 look for telescopes set
up by RASC NB members, who will be offering public solar and night
observing.

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

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton