NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, April
2, 2021 (Friday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
**Isaie Comeau photographed an adult
male MERLIN taking a Mourning Dove as prey in his Tabusintac yard. Note the
wide dark bands compared to the narrow white bands in the nicely spread tail to
quickly rule out accipiters.
As can be seen from the size comparison,
the Mourning Dove is large prey for the aggressive Merlin.
** The BEAKED HAZEL is a shrub that
blooms very early, but easily overlooked.
Gart Bishop shares a photo of one in bloom that he noted recently. The red part is the female sexual part called
the styles. There are no petals, and that
is as big as the flower gets (2 to 3 mm), which is why it is so easily
overlooked in bloom. Sitting just above
the flower is the male part which is the catkin, similar to what is found in
birch, poplar and willow.
** Doreen Rossiter reports that she
usually gets a spring arrival of a NORTHERN FLICKER [Pic flamboyant] to her Alma yard; however, this year was
the first time she had one arrive in March, just making it on March 31st,
being a female. 2020’s first Northern
Flicker arrival was April 3rd.
The PALM WARBLER [Paruline à couronne
rousse] that
Doreen had arrive on March 27th is still present daily, and she was
surprised to see it come to a window feeder a few times for Black-oil Sunflower
Seed.
** The town of Shediac had the idea of
a pamphlet as a promotional tool to attract nature-loving tourists to the
area. They approached Les Ami.e.s de
la Nature who directed the project (mostly President Raymonde Chartier). The town gave the club $5,000 for the project
which will be used to sponsor the club’s different nature initiatives, such as Osprey
platforms, etc. Several people gave
their time to this project. It is a
beautifully done pamphlet we all can benefit from. There are mapped routes to good birding
sites, and many excellent photos that Carmella Melanson, Yves Poussart and
Charles Duguay have contributed.
Carmella has sent a package of them to distribute. We will have them available at any potential
future outings, but with group outings at a minimal at the moment, leave a
message with the editor and you can pick up a copy of your own in Moncton.
** Bob Blake keeps daily weather stats
from his Second North River home and sends a chart to compare his records from
March 2020 to March 2021. The increased
rainfall in March 2021 over March 2020 is very notable. Bob’s table, as he forwarded it, is attached
below.
|
2020 |
2021 |
||
|
morning
temperatures |
daily highs |
morning
temperatures |
daily highs |
|
-13-1 day -10-3 -8-1 -7-1 -6-4 -4-4 -3-1 -2-3 -1-2 0-5 +3-2 +6-1 |
+9-2 +8-1 +7-2 +5-1 +4-4 +3-2 +2-9 10 cms. snow 14 mms. rain |
–15-1 -13-1 -12-2 -11-2 -10-3 -9-2 -7-2 -5-2 -3-2 -2-1 -1-1 0-1 +1-4 +2-1 +3-1 +4-2 +5-1 +6-1 |
+15-3 +14-2 +13-1 +11-1 +9-2 +8-1 +7-1 +6-3 +7-2 +2-2 11 cms. snow 73 mms. rain |
** It’s Friday and time to review what
the night sky will reveal to us next week, courtesy of sky-guru Curt Nason.
This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2021 April 3 – 2021 April 10
The constellation Coma Berenices, or Berenice’s Hair, is midway up in the
eastern sky at 10 pm this week, between the tail of Leo the Lion and
kite-shaped Boötes. It is the only constellation with a mythological tale based
on a real person. In the fourth century BC, King Ptolemy Soter of Egypt went to
war against Assyria. His worried wife Berenice made a vow to the goddess
Aphrodite that she would sacrifice her beautiful locks if he returned safely.
He did return and she kept her vow against his wishes. When he visited the
temple the next day he discovered the hair had been stolen and he threatened to
kill the temple priests. The court astronomer claimed that Zeus had taken the
hair and placed it in the sky for all to admire, and that night he showed Ptolemy
a cluster of stars.
That cluster was the Coma Star Cluster, also called Melotte 111, which can be
seen with the naked eye in rural areas and it fills the field of view in
binoculars. At one time it was considered to be the tuft of Leo’s tail. The
area of sky encompassed by Coma Berenices and its surrounding constellations is
called the Realm of the Galaxies. The galactic North Pole lies within this
constellation, perpendicular to the dusty disc of our Milky Way Galaxy. When we
look in this direction the paucity of interstellar dust allows us to see deeper
into space and observe other galaxies tens of millions of light years away.
This relatively small constellation contains eight of the 110 Messier objects
within its borders, including globular cluster M53 and M64, the Black Eye
Galaxy.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:54 am and sunset will occur at 7:50 pm,
giving 12 hours, 56 minutes of daylight (7:00 am and 7:55 pm in Saint
John). Next Saturday, the Sun will rise at 6:41 am and set at 8:00 pm,
giving 13 hours, 19 minutes of daylight (6:47 am and 8:04 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is at third quarter this Sunday, and it will pass below Saturn on
Tuesday and below Jupiter on Wednesday. Mars continues to move eastward between
the long horns of Taurus the Bull, setting around 1:30 am. By midweek, Jupiter
is rising by 5 am, half an hour after Saturn. Mercury and Venus will be out of
sight until late in the month when they pop up in the west after sunset. Dwarf
planet Ceres is in solar conjunction on Wednesday. All of this week we have an
opportunity to see the zodiacal light in a clear, dark western sky,
approximately 45-90 minutes after sunset.
With astronomy meetings and outreach activities on hold you can watch the local
Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm, and view archived shows, on YouTube
at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAEHfOWyL-kNH7dBVHK8spg
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
