Nature Moncton Nature News: May 28 2021

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, May 28, 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)

** It is back! Aldo Dorio spotted the GARGANEY [Sarcelle d’été] back in the same place it was previously just past the barbershop and before the bridge and off to the side of the parking area. A real surprise as most of us felt it had moved on, so still an opportunity for those that missed it. Aldo sends documentary photos. Aldo also sends a photo of a pair of Mallard ducks still together. I assume something has happened as the female should have a brood incubating or hatched by now.

** Georges Brun photographed a RED-THROATED LOON [Plongeon catmarin] Tuesday next to Chateau Moncton in the Petitcodiac River. On checking with Gilles Belliveau, he feels that it is a mature/adult bird that hasn’t fully come into breeding plumage yet but is close (possibly a bird coming into its first breeding plumage when maybe its molt can be variable).

** I made my annual visit to the nearby-to-our-camp cedar bog where I find CALYPSO ORCHID usually every second year, usually only one or two at most. My visit netted no Calypso, so I’m attaching two that were photographed previously. These little gems are only 4 to 6 inches high and stunningly beautiful.

I photographed several consolation prizes that were there which were not as sharp as I would like as there was a very dark over-storey and high winds. PAINTED TRILLIUMS were very abundant and RED TRILLIUMS were abundant. Note the large stemless leaves of Red Trillium. STAR FLOWER was blooming as well as GOLDTHREAD. I removed one of the Goldthread plants to show the way it got its name with bright gold runners coming from the root mass. A JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT was setting up his lectern. I pushed the colourful leaf overlay back to expose Jack and the striking leaf but placed it back down immediately after the photo as Jack requested. INTERRUPTED FERN fertile fronds were showing how this plant gets its name by the spores developing halfway up the fertile stock making an interruption in the pinules.

Christmas presents often tend to be something to do with nature in my case. One was an insect house (photo attached). MASON BEES sure went for it and most of the tubes filled with five mud-walled separated nests. I have 10 Mason Bee houses up, so the dandelions left not mowed are getting frequent visits. Also my first-of-the-year large Sphinx moth visited Wednesday night – the MODEST SPHINX (aka. BIG POPLAR SPHINX).

** It’s Friday and time to review what we can see in the sky during the next week, courtesy of sky-guru Curt Nason.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2021 May 29 – 2021 June 5
With turkey vultures becoming more prominent in the province, you might be interested in knowing a vulture once flew with the swan and the eagle in the sky. The bright star Vega can be seen high in the east in the late evening. Vega’s constellation is Lyra the Lyre or Harp, with the main part of the instrument being formed by a parallelogram of stars. If you point a telescope between the two brighter stars of the parallelogram, opposite Vega, you might notice a fat, blurry star. A moderate-sized telescope will show it as a smoke ring or doughnut. This is the Ring Nebula or M57, the remnants of a Sun-sized star that puffed off its layers of gas when it ran out of nuclear fuel. Near Vega is a dimmer but naked-eye star that binoculars will show as two stars, and a telescope at high power will reveal each of those as double stars. This star, Epsilon Lyrae (E1 Lyr), is nicknamed the Double-Double.

In mythology, the lyre was made from a tortoise shell by the god Hermes, who gave it to Apollo. It was mastered by Apollo’s son Orpheus, who soothed all around him when he played. After his bride was killed tragically on their wedding night, he spurned the advances of the many young ladies vying for his attention. They schemed revenge, screaming loudly so as not to be affected by his music, and then beat him to death and tossed the lyre into the river. In one version of mythology, Zeus sent a vulture to retrieve the lyre and had it placed in the sky to commemorate Orpheus and his music. Star maps from a few centuries ago depicted the lyre in the talons of the vulture.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 5:33 am and sunset will occur at 9:00 pm, giving 15 hours, 27 minutes of daylight (5:41 am and 9:02 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 5:29 am and set at 9:06 pm, giving 15 hours, 37 minutes of daylight (5:37 am and 9:08 pm in Saint John).

The Moon is at third quarter on Wednesday morning, rising at 2:25 am and setting at 1:10 pm. It passes below Saturn on Monday morning and Jupiter on Tuesday. Venus gleams low in the northwest in evening twilight, setting around 10:30. Mercury will be difficult to spot, setting about 50 minutes after sunset. Mars’s eastward motion against the stars brings it nearly in line with Pollux and Castor, and at magnitude 1.8 it is approximately midway in brightness of the two stars. Saturn rises around 1:00 am midweek, 45 minutes before Jupiter.

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.