Nature Moncton Nature News: Oct 1 2021

NATURE MONCTON NATURE INFORMATION LINE, Oct. 1, 2021 (Friday)

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .

Please advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .

Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

**The weather is being watched closely and it appears Sunday, Oct. 3 will provide a better experience for the Nature Moncton visit to the Sussex Bluff. Sunday is predicted to have more chance of sun and less chance of showers or cloud. The written directions to the meeting site at 1:00 PM are in the writeup below and a photograph of it is # 1 in today’s photo lineup.

Any outing led by Gart Bishop is always special, a bit of rain or not!

To repeat, the Nature Moncton visit to the Sussex Bluff is changed from Saturday Oct. 2 to Sunday Oct. 3 at the same time of 1:00 PM. Parking has been recently changed at the water tower for Covid reasons but someone will be at the site to direct that.

NATURE MONCTON FIELD TRIP TO SUSSEX BLUFF

OCTOBER 3, 2021 (Saturday) DEPARTING 1:00 PM

LEADER: GART BISHOP

On October 3, enjoy an early fall walk through mixed forest and hemlock stands out to Sussex’s ‘Big Bluff’. The somewhat hilly trail, while well-established is full of roots, and in places is narrow along rocky ridges. Round trip it is about 4 km. There are many treats in store such as Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), Rock Spike-moss (Selaginella rupestris), and Douglas’ Knotweed (Polygonum douglasii), newly discovered by Jim Goltz in 2018 during a Botany Club outing. Other plants we will see are Three-toothed Cinquefoil (Sibbaldiopsis tridentata) and Prince’s Pine (Chimaphila umbellata). Plus, once at the Bluff, participants are treated to a panoramic view of Trout Creek (see photo below) winding its way through ‘Dutch Valley’. Walk will start at 1 pm, and participants will meet at the Sussex Corner water tower as indicated on the map below.

Take exit 198 off Hwy 1. Turn left onto Hwy 111, continue 350 m to stop sign, turn left to follow Hwy 111 (also called St. Martins Road). Continue 1 km, turn right to follow Hwy 111 (now also called Post Rd). Continue 1.5 km then turn left onto Sullivan Dr. which will change to Pugsley St after a sharp right turn. Continue a couple hundred meters then turn left onto Rockridge Dr. Continue 900 meters and park by the water tower.

**The Destroying Angel (Amanita virosa) is considered one of the most deadly mushrooms in New Brunswick. There are many great edibles, many others that are not edibles as they lack flavour or too tough, and others that cause temporary gastric upsets or are hallucinogens but only a few are considered deadly as the Destroying Angel is.

Gordon Rattray found the Destroying Angel and photographed it showing the identity clues. When fresh it is totally white, has a bulbous base which has to be exposed by a little bit of digging, the partial veil drapes a bit like an apron, and has free gills which means there is a space between the gills and the stalk that can be seen in Gordon’s photo. The spore print is white. An excellent photo exposé of the species.

**At this time of the year, birds molting to adult/winter non-breeding plumage can produce some surprising combinations. Sterling Marsh got a photo of a juvenile European Starling still with the brownish head of immaturity with the speckled body of winter non-breeding plumage to make for an unexpected combo.

**In follow-up to Daryl Doucette’s Grey Squirrel acorn thief, Daryl got a fast photo of the lone neighbourhood Grey Squirrel hard at work getting every acorn in his yard Oak tree distributed about the neighbourhood and buried. It is continuing to nip off branch tips of acorns.

Also, Daryl sends an additional photo of a Ruffed Grouse he recently photographed that so nicely shows it displaying the black ruff that gives it the common name.

**It’s Friday and time to check in on what next week’s night sky has to offer courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason. A new moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury are included in the week’s highlights.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2021 October 2 – October 9
With moose season and the Moon out of the way, this weekend might be a good time for some good old-fashioned giraffe hunting. No guns allowed, just find a place where the sky is not tainted by light pollution and bring binoculars for an added treat.

The large constellation Camelopardalis is somewhat easier to pronounce than it is to locate in the sky. Look below Cassiopeia and between Perseus and Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper, which has the North Star at the end of the handle). Any stars you can see in this area compose the not-so-stellar giraffe. The constellation was imagined and charted on a globe by Dutch astronomer Petrus Plancius in 1612 and later adopted by other prominent makers of star charts. The name derives from how the Greeks regarded giraffes as camel leopards, with their long neck and spots.

An interesting binocular object called Kemble’s Cascade is an observing highlight within Camelopardalis. This asterism, forming a line of about 20 stars, was noticed by Canadian amateur astronomer Father Lucien Kemble, who reported it to a columnist at Sky and Telescope magazine. One method of finding your way there is to imagine a line across the top stars of Cassiopeia’s W shape, right to left, and extend it an equal distance. Another is to extend an equal length line from Algol to Mirfak, the two brightest stars in Perseus. Near one end of this asterism a telescope will reveal the open star cluster NGC 1502, which is nicknamed the Jolly Roger Cluster.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:19 am and sunset will occur at 6:56 pm, giving 12 hours, 37 minutes of daylight (7:23 am and 7:02 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:28 am and set at 6:43 pm, giving 11 hours, 15 minutes of daylight (7:32 am and 6:49 pm in Saint John).

The Moon is new on Wednesday, passing near Venus next weekend. Venus sets around 8:30 pm later in the week while Mercury passes between us and the Sun next Saturday, a day after Mars passes behind the Sun. Jupiter is at its best for observing at 10 pm, an hour after Saturn reaches its peak, but both give great views through a telescope all evening. Telescope users can catch Jupiter’s Red Spot around 8:30 Monday and 10 pm on Wednesday. Starting early in the week, rural observers might see the morning zodiacal light over the next two weeks.

Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.