NATURE
MONCTON NATURE INFORMATION LINE, Nov 5, 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
**So great
to start hearing Northern Cardinal reports to share. Stella and
Jean-Paul LeBlanc had a fully molted male pay a visit to their Bouctouche yard on
Thursday. Hope it was a local dad this past summer!
The LeBlanc’s also spotted a Red Fox with
sarcoptic mange in a neighbour’s yard to get a distant photo. Sarcoptic
mange is a serious condition to the Red Fox as fur is lost to make oncoming
cold-weather serious to them. Some animals will recover but most do not. The
animal in Jean-Paul’s photo looks to be a serious case.
**Aldo Dorio
spotted an American Coot in a pond
on Thursday near where he photographed the Cattle Egret on Wednesday on the
Coverdell Rd. in Tabusintac. A great few days for Aldo seeing unexpected
species of birds.
**Danielle
Pinder from the Marine Animal Response Society who gave an excellent
presentation to Nature Moncton in October has sent the slideshow of her
presentation for those who could not attend or would like to see it again. It
is full video and audio in PowerPoint being exactly the same as Danielle
presented it. Check it out at the attached link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o2th0u1vnxve4em/GMT20211019-222515_Recording_1760x900.mp4?dl=0
**Lois Budd
comments she may not have many winter birds yet but it is a delight to see her pair
of Flying Squirrels are back to
enjoy the sunflower seeds she puts in their box for them.
She so enjoys seeing these two every
fall. Lois will try to get a photo of them but right now they are very
shy. A bit into winter when they know it is a safe place, they sit a bit
longer and she can enjoy them from my sunporch window. This is the
7th year that she has been feeding them from this box in a tree and they love
apples, peanuts and sunflower seeds. They also enjoy the crunchy
peanut butter on the peanut butter feeder. Lois comments “My night feeder
thieves with their perky little ears and teddy bear faces!”
**On Thursday, Bill and Marguerite Winsor saw a
Greater White-Fronted Goose in the Petitcodiac Wastewater Treatment Pond with a large number of Canada Geese and got pleasant photographs. It was first located by Rhonda and Paul Langelaan.
**Verica
LeBlanc stopped to see if there were still some birds at Escuminac. They did
see a small flock of Sanderlings fly
in, but they settled behind the sea weeds on the water side and were no longer
in view.
The
Herring Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls, and Double-crested Cormorants were
there. Verica photographed two 1st winter Great Black-backed Gulls
and one 1st winter Herring Gull side-by-side for a nice comparison as
well and as a winter adult Herring Gull.
Also,
they had a first visit from Jack Frost Thursday morning to their Nelson, Miramichi
yard.
**Brian Stone made
his third trip to the Tantramar Marsh this week on Thursday to see if the nice
weather would bring out any new life to be photographed. Even though the
weather was great, it was only a large group of AMERICAN CROWS that
brought out a nice new photo op for Brian. The crows were seen chasing a SHORT-EARED
OWL and a HAWK together in the distance for some documentary images.
Later the Short-eared Owl flew around by itself a bit closer for some better
photos. A short while later a NORTHERN HARRIER HAWK and a ROUGH-LEGGED
HAWK were seen circling together, in the distance once again. A second,
separate Northern Harrier Hawk was also seen in the general area.
It has to be a
very positive sign to see this raptor activity early in the season on the
Tantramar Marsh. Brian also commented that he saw a Meadow Vole during the day
on a recent visit which is another good sign of potential raptor prey.
**It’s Friday and time to review what
next week’s night sky will show
courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason. Mark your calendars to hopefully have a clear
sky Wednesday night at 6 PM to compare it to Curt’s attached sky photo.
This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2021 November 7 – November 13
With the time change this weekend there will likely be much griping about the
practice. There will be mention of the inconvenience of resetting old-fashioned
clocks, driving home in the dark, increases in vehicle accidents and heart
attacks, how smart Saskatchewan is, and what have you. Some people want to
retain DST; others want to scrap it or remain on it all year. Recently Alberta
held a referendum—Stay on DST year round? Yes or No—and No barely won, thanks
to the “keep-its” and “scrap-its” being lumped together.
I checked out a reference to a study in the Southern USA that showed an
increase in fatal vehicle accidents during the week after the time changes.
There was about a 5% increase, but only for the spring change to DST and only
in the morning; back to darkness just when people were finally getting daylight
for commuting. Saskatchewan? The middle of that province is at longitude 105
degrees, what should be the middle of the Mountain zone but they stay on CST
(aka MDT – why would they want double daylight?). Yes, you won’t drive home
from work in the dark as much if we stay on DST throughout winter but you can’t
have it both ways. On DST sunrise would be after 8 am from November through
February, with two weeks of that after 9 am. Do your kids or grandkids take the
school bus?
As an amateur astronomer I don’t enjoy waiting until very late evening in
summer to share views through my telescope. However, most people love the extra
hour of evening light during the outdoor months. Whereas the biggest beef
against the time change is the temporary disruption of our biological clock, I
suggest we start it at 2 am on the Saturday of the Victoria Day weekend to
allow most people two or three days to adjust before returning to work or
school. Saturday morning of Thanksgiving weekend is a logical time to fall back
to Standard Time since summer activities have ceased.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 8:07 am and sunset will occur at 5:57 pm,
giving 9 hours, 50 minutes of daylight (8:10 am and 6:04 pm in Saint John).
Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:17 am and set at 4:49 pm, giving 9 hours,
31 minutes of daylight (7:20 am and 4:56 pm in Saint John). Our clocks revert
to Standard Time this Sunday at 2 am.
The crescent Moon sits to the lower right of Venus on Sunday evening and to the
lower left of Saturn on Wednesday. It is at first quarter Thursday, to
the lower left of Jupiter, and telescope users can see the Lunar X around 7 pm.
Also visible between 8 and 10 that evening will be Jupiter’s Red Spot. Mercury
meets up with Mars Wednesday morning, rising an hour before sunrise. Early
risers on Friday might catch a few shooting stars from the North Taurid meteor
shower.
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
