Nature Moncton Nature News: Oct 14 2016

** It's last call to the Nature Moncton guided tour on the inner and outer sanctums of the Magnetic Hill Zoo with zoo general manager Bruce Dougan tomorrow morning, Saturday morning, meeting at 10:00 AM in the zoo parking lot. Bruce has advised a change in admission rates. It will now be reduced to $8.00 for each participant. The write-up is added as an attachment today.

** A special night for Gabriel Gallant on Thursday when he heard a LONG-EARED OWL [Hibou moyen-duc] vocalize at his Sainte-Marie-de-Kent home. It seemed quite close when he first heard it, and then it moved farther down the road to a field. He also heard it a few nights ago. While standing outside listening for the owl, he could also hear a BAT that was foraging overhead. He has been hearing a bat hunting around his yard all summer.

** Ina Freeman has had an AMERICAN CROW [Corneille d'Amérique] with a significant amount of white showing on the wings. Ina was able to catch some photos of it from different angles that are attached. Ina comments that when it flies, the white pattern is very showy. This may be the pattern shown in Sibley to be uncommon, but regular.

** Mike Britton recently had a scenario with a PORCUPINE [Porc-épic d'Amerique] that seemed to come right up to within 6 feet of them before getting their scent and scurrying off into some tall grasses. It all made for a nice porcupine portrait.

** Gordon Rattray had a co-operative LAKE DARNER DRAGONFLY [Aeschne porte-crosses] join him as he was harvesting his carrot crop on Thursday. Gilles Belliveau points out the notched thoracic line and the black line across the face to point to Lake Darner. A local RED SQUIRREL [Écureuil roux] was also stocking up for the winter. Gordon also had a visit from a GALLIUM SPHINX MOTH [Sphinx du gaillet] caterpillar. As well, he had five WHITE-TAILED DEER [Cerf de Virginie] in the field by his Albert Mines home on Saturday. The group consisted of two adult females and three juveniles.

** Anna Tucker got a photo of a PIED-BILLED GREBE [Grèbe à bec bigarré] sliding through the cattails on Tuesday at the Sackville Waterfowl Park.

** Brian Stone got a photo of the moon on Thursday evening as it heads toward its full phase on October 16th.

** To correct a photo of LEAST SANDPIPERS [Bécasseau minuscule] from yesterday's edition, it had a SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER [Bécasseau semipalmé] with them -- very obvious by the black legs which Least Sandpipers do not have. Thanks to Louise Nichols and Gilles Belliveau for pointing out that obvious slip. The corrected photos are reattached today.

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

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, October 15 – October 22
With the Square of Pegasus appearing higher in the east after twilight,
look under it (or outside the first base line of the diamond) for a
circle of fainter stars. This asterism is the Circlet of Pisces and
forms the head of one if the two fish that make up this zodiac
constellation. To the lower left of the circle is the Vernal Equinox,
the point where the Sun crosses the equator to mark the beginning of our
spring season. It is still at times called the First Point of Aries
despite having moved well to the west of the zodiacal ram.

The fishes represent Aphrodite and her son Eros, who tied their ankles
together with a cord before changing into fish and leaping into the sea
to escape the fearsome Typhon. The star where the fishes’ tails meet is
called Alrescha, which means “the cord.”

On Saturday the near full Moon is passing through Pisces, and just above
it in mid-evening is the planet Uranus, which reaches opposition that
day. With a planetarium app or a star map like one available on the Sky
& Telescope Web site, you can track down Uranus with binoculars. From a
dark location when the Moon is out of the sky you might even be able to
glimpse it without optical aid. Through a telescope Uranus appears as a
tiny, pale green ball.

This Week in the Solar System

Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:37 am and sunset will occur at
6:32 pm, giving 10 hours, 55 minutes of daylight (7:41 am and 6:38 pm in
Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:46 am and set at 6:20
pm, giving 10 hours, 34 minutes of daylight (7:50 am and 6:26 pm in
Saint John).

The full Hunter’s Moon occurs on Sunday, less than 24 hours before it
reaches perigee so we can expect very high and low tides early in the
week. Mercury is getting tough to see, rising just half an hour before
the Sun and more than an hour after Jupiter by midweek. Venus is now
less than 15 degrees from Saturn and closing the gap daily. In a couple
of weeks it will pass between Saturn and Antares. Over the week Mars
moves eastward beyond the handle of the Sagittarius Teapot asterism. The
International Space Station (ISS) will be making an impressive pass
overhead around 7:50 pm Saturday. The Orionid meteor shower, arising
from detritus from Halley’s Comet, might give early risers a little
extra to see on Friday. The meteors will appear to be coming from
Orion’s club above orange Betelgeuse.

The provincial astronomy club (RASC NB) meets at the Rockwood Park
Interpretation Centre in Saint John on October 15 at 1 pm.

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

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton