NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, July 16, 2021 (Friday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
** Stella and Jean Paul Leblanc spotted
an EASTERN MEADOWLARK in Ste Marie-de-Kent
on Thursday evening and were able to get a nice photo at a distance.
** It sure looks like we are having a
great MONARCH BUTTERFLY season. Dale
and Helen Halfpenny enjoyed watching a male Monarch Butterfly nectaring on what
appears to be HAWKWEED at their Alma
cottage last week.
** David Lilly visited the yard of Ann
Chudleigh in Grand Manan last weekend. Ann has milkweed growing profusely about
her yard that is attracting lots of insect attention. David photographed a HUMMINGBIRD CLEARWING MOTH, RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLIES, and MONARCH BUTTERFLIES.
** Gordon Rattray took a drive along
the Shepody Marsh Rd. to get several nice photos en route including BOBOLINKS, both male and female, a BRONZE COPPER BUTTERFLY, a COMMON
WHITETAIL DRAGONFLY, FIELD SOW THISTLE from 2 different views, and TALL MEADOW-RUE in bloom.
A ROCK
PIGEON with a story of interest … friends that live overlooking the Shepody
Marsh called Gordon last week asking what they should do about a Rock Pigeon
that arrived at their place wearing leg bands. He investigated but within an
hour they had solved their own mystery. The story goes that they went out to
their greenhouse in the afternoon and a pigeon was sitting on the roof just
over the door. He almost touched the bird when shooing it along and was
concerned that a hawk that hunted in his yard would capture it. It flew across
the road to a neighbor’s house and not long after they saw it walking up their
driveway and it went back into the greenhouse. They found contact information
on the leg band and reached the owner in Halifax. Last week the owner had a
release that went wrong and several birds did not return, hearing of one in New
England and another in Quebec. The bird was very weak and they volunteered to
keep it until it is strong enough to fly home. They agreed to release it from
Sackville so it would not have to cross the bay. They were hoping to do that at
the end of the week.
** Brian Stone shares some photos from
the Nature Moncton Tuesday evening outing to the Humphrey Brook Trail. He got
the EASTERN KINGBIRD that greeted us
on arrival (note the fine hair-like feathers around the mouth typical of
flycatchers), CHOKE CHERRY GALL
which on cutting into it showed the orange larvae of the gall maker, SPECKLED ALDER infected with ALDER CONE GALL FUNGUS, ALDER FLEA BEETLE LARVAE skeletonizing
Alder leaves, a male EBONY JEWELWING
DAMSELFLY, a FALSE CROCUS GEOMETER
MOTH in hiding, JEWELWEED in
bloom, aka Touch-me-not, RED OSIER
DOGWOOD in the berry stage which will remain white, a young of the year YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER showing its
very different plumage from its parents and enjoying the very fresh so symmetrically drilled sap holes, LARGE LEAVED WOOD ASTER starting to develop
blooms, the very sweet smelling SPREADING
DOGBANE that is so attractive to nectar seekers, VIRGIN’S BOWER in bloom, and SHINLEAF
(PYROLA) in bloom.
Brian visited Wilson Marsh on Wednesday
to try and find as many interesting photo subjects as he could. He got photos
of several varieties of plants and was very happy to see the variety of
wildflowers growing tall alongside the trail. A BALD EAGLE and an OSPREY
flew overhead to get photographed, with the Osprey being more cooperative and
coming in close so detail could be recorded. A CANADIAN TIGER SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY was looking very worn and
faded, but the CABBAGE WHITE BUTTERFLY
was fresh looking. TWELVE-SPOTTED
SKIMMER DRAGONFLIES were all over the marsh in large numbers.
SWAMP SPARROWS were hanging out along the trail and
at the far end of the marsh at least 4 or more MARSH WRENS were calling loudly. Brian valiantly tried for an hour
to get a photo of one but the wrens were not cooperating and remained hidden in
the reeds. He did manage a decent view of one briefly between the reeds but no
picture was possible. The only ducks visible seemed to be MALLARD DUCKS but Brian did hear one PIED-BILLED GREBE calling. One curious COMMON YELLOWTHROAT WARBLER checked Brian out from a far bush.
** I had a few interesting moth
visitors on Wednesday night. A WAVED
SPHINX MOTH and a CANADIAN SPHINX MOTH came by. These are
not colourful moths but are notably large. I also had a DIERVILLA CLEARWING MOTH visit the Common Milkweed. The guide lists
them as common but this is the first time I have seen a live specimen. It is
quite worn so I am assuming it is near the end of its mission. Jim Edsall
advises that this is a name change from Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris
diffinis) to Diervilla Clearwing Moth (Hemaris aethra).
** It’s Friday and it’s time to see
what next week’s sky has in store for us courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason.
This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2021 July 17 – July 24
Serpens the Serpent is unique among the 88 constellations in that it is split
in two by another constellation, Ophiuchus. As the name suggests, Ophiuchus is
the Serpent Bearer, and he is often depicted holding a large snake. The two
constellations are also intertwined in mythology.
Ophiuchus represents Asclepius, a renowned healer who could raise the dead.
After killing a snake one day, he watched as another snake placed an herb on
its dead companion and revived it. After this, Asclepius learned the healing
arts and his success at reviving people drew the ire of Hades, a brother of
Zeus and ruler of the Underworld. Receiving a complaint from Hades that he was
being robbed of subjects, Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt.
The part of Serpens west of Ophiuchus is called Serpens Caput (meaning head);
to the east is Serpens Cauda (for tail). M16, the Eagle Nebula, is a rather
faint nebula with a star cluster in Serpens Cauda. It gained fame as the iconic
Pillars of Creation photo from the early years of the Hubble Space Telescope.
The delightful globular cluster M5 is found in Serpens Caput, and several other
globular clusters reside within the borders of Ophiuchus.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 5:45 am and sunset will occur at 9:05 pm,
giving 15 hours, 20 minutes of daylight (5:53 am and 9:07 pm in Saint
John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 5:52 am and set at 8:58 pm,
giving 15 hours, 6 minutes of daylight (6:00 am and 9:00 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is at first quarter this Saturday morning, and it is full next Friday
evening as it nears Saturn. Venus passes near Leo’s lucida, Regulus, on
Wednesday, presaging a closer but less brilliant pairing of Mars and Regulus
the following week. Jupiter and Saturn are attracting attention in late evening
to the southeast, with both coming to opposition next month. On Monday
telescope users can catch Jupiter’s moon Io disappear into the planet’s shadow
around 11:30 pm, and 80 minutes later Europa will emerge from behind the opposite
side. These events are called an eclipse disappearance and an occultation
reappearance. This weekend Mercury rises 75 minutes before sunrise, and by next
weekend the gap shortens to 50 minutes.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
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