NATURE
MONCTON NATURE INFORMATION LINE, Nov 19, 2021 (Friday)
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Edited
by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**For
those who were not able to attend the recent November Nature Moncton zoom
meeting when Brian Donovan gave a very interesting presentation on trail camera
use and some of his amazing videos he has taken can be watched just as
participants did on Tuesday night at the link below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u24lsjvqv0m4poo/Trail%20cams%20with%20Brian%20Donovan%20Video.mp4?dl=0
** Shannon and John Inman went for a drive around 1 pm
Thursday and a Snowy Owl was sitting on a sign at the marsh down from their
Harvey, Albert Co. home. Shannon got a quick photo before it flew to the dyke
by the marsh. It was a fitting sign to perch on.
Sure is
great to hear early reports of this welcome northern visitor.
**Yvette Richard
visited the Port Elgin lagoon on Tuesday. She found a very significant number
of Bufflehead.
Always a
treat.
Yvette
comments too bad they are so skittish.
It was
chilly so she pulled her white hood over her head, and poof, they all took flight!
(Editor’s note: some of the female birds noted are actually probably first-year
males. Their white facial patch will enlarge as the winter progresses)
Yvette also
got a nice photo of an American Tree
Sparrow that are now arriving to join us for the winter and soon will be
dropping by our feeder yards.
**Brian
Stone got some great photos on Wednesday of a group of Purple Finch in female plumage but travelling with them was reddish
birds I wondered if they may be male Purple Finch taking on their adult male plumage
as they do each fall. It seemed odd only male House Finch would be travelling
with female Purple Finch.
A consult
with Gilles Beliveau pointed out why he feels the reddish plumage birds are
indeed male House Finch and gave his reasons for that quoted below. Brian’s
photos are attached today and very worthy of study. It is also worthy of note
that these finches appear to be after the seed and disposing of the pulp of the
berries they are foraging on.
Quoting Gilles
“I feel
fairly certain these are House Finch.
Colours can
be a bit tricky to judge accurately in this type of bright light but the colour
on this bird certainly seems to fall into the “true” red tone rather than the
more raspberry “purplish” hue of a Purple Finch. The colour also seems
particularly concentrated on the forehead, front of the face, malar and upper
chest while being more subdued away from those areas and this is very typical
of House Finch.
The bird
also has prominent streaks on the undertail coverts which is also typical of
House Finch. Purple Finch generally has unmarked white undertail coverts though
some female/immature Purple Finches can have a few streaks in the undertail
coverts.”
**It’s
Friday and time to review what next week’s night sky will reveal courtesy of
sky guru Curt Nason:
This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2021 November 20 – November 27
Stock market-minded
astronomers could be inspired by looking to the northeast after twilight. On
evenings in mid-May, Ursa Major the Great Bear is high overhead, dominating the
sky. Taurus the Bull, meanwhile, sets early, and then we have several months of
a bear market for stargazing. Later sunsets and extended twilight, with the
compounded interest of daylight time, means sparse hours for viewing the summer
night sky. Now that we are well beyond the autumnal equinox and have returned
to standard time, early darkness reveals the Great Bear has reached bottom to
the north after sunset, and the Celestial Bull is rising in the east. We are
entering the bull market phase of stargazing.
Although we lose the globular clusters and nebulae that abound within the Milky
Way areas of Scorpius, Ophiuchus and Sagittarius, we can still observe the summer
treasures near Lyra and Cygnus before they set. The autumn constellations of
Cassiopeia, Andromeda and Perseus are peaking in mid-evening, ceding their
reign to the bright stars and open clusters of winter’s Taurus, Orion and his
dogs, Auriga and Gemini by midnight. Early risers can start on the springtime
galaxies in Leo and Virgo before morning twilight. For stargazers, as the carol
goes, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Invest some time in observing
the night sky.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:27 am and sunset will occur at 4:42 pm,
giving 9 hours, 15 minutes of daylight (7:29 am and 4:49 pm in Saint John).
Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:36 am and set at 4:37 pm, giving 9 hours,
1 minute of daylight (7:38 am and 4:44 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is one day past full this Saturday and at third quarter phase next
Saturday. Although Jupiter and Saturn are moving eastward relative to the
stars, they appear a little farther toward the west at the same time each
evening due to Earth’s speedier orbit. Meanwhile, Venus is moving eastward with
the Sun and now it makes an obvious line-up with the two gas giants in the
early evening. The line-up will get tighter over the next few weeks and Mercury
will join the parade near year’s end. On Tuesday telescope users might see the
shadows of Jupiter’s moons Ganymede and Callisto crossing the planet between 8
and 10:40 pm. Mars is working its way toward visibility in the morning
sky but binoculars are required to pick it out in twilight. The International
Space Station will be making two evening passes each night throughout the week.
Check the Heavens-Above website for times of visibility.
On Sunday evening at 8 pm, tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show via the Facebook
page or YouTube channel of Astronomy by the Bay.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson
Poirier
Nature
Moncton
