Nature Moncton Nature News: March 18 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

March 18, 2022 (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

**Richard Blacquiere comments he made the ‘mistake’ of going to Rockwood Park in Saint John on Thursday morning to find the always strange lurking hybrid ducks there.

He surely photographed a few very different ones with all the hybrid individuals now appearing from predominantly Black Duck X Mallard Duck crosses to very surprising plumage blends, especially with F1, F2, and back crosses taking place.

Both Richard and Ron Arsenault wondered if some ‘barnyard’ genes might be expressing themselves in the unusual plumage of one of the mallards showing white areas. Quite an unusual looking bird. Yet another possibility of how the Mallard Duck is getting its genes spread around!

**Shannon and John Inman have seen Woodcock around their Harvey, Albert Co, home the last few days as well as a Killdeer pair down the road from their home on Thursday, conditions too dark to catch a photo. More evidence of the spring rush!

**Isabelle Simon is happy to share that "Chippy" the Eastern Chipmunk has successfully come out of hibernation and made an appearance in her yard in Lutes Mountain starting on Tuesday.

The Sharp Shinned Hawk was back looking for a meal but left unsuccessful. An immature Red-winged Blackbird also made its first appearance on Thursday.

**Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins had a female Pileated Woodpecker trying out the top of the hydro pole next to her house Thursday. At suppertime, a flock of Common Grackles arrived to try the suet.

**Brian Stone was up at sunrise on Wednesday morning and noticed a partial Upper Tangent Arc ice halo above the rising Sun. He snapped a quick image with his cell phone and then continued on with his day. Just before heading for sleep early at 12:45 am on Thursday Brian also checked the sky to find a nice 22° Lunar Halo surrounding the 99% full Moon.

https://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/column.htm

https://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/circmoon.htm

**Fred Dube and Nelson Poirier completed the erection of 10 Nature Moncton nest boxes at the White Birch Lagoon in Lower Coverdale on Thursday afternoon. It is difficult to show them in one photograph, but they’re well spaced out around the perimeter and ready for patrons. Fred is very skilled with all the right tools, and his skills combined with Fred Richard’s carpentry skills made for a very rewarding job done.

We were very lucky to meet Kevin Davidson, a retired Canadian Wildlife Service employee from the head office in Sackville who mows and maintains a path around the lagoon all summer. He was pleased to see the nest boxes going up.

As we were erecting the boxes, several groups of Canada Geese flew over to land in the upper marsh area. Also, a flock of approximately 250 birds flew rapidly up the river in a tight group. They appeared black and Black Scoter would have to be a possibility. Mallard Ducks and Herring Gulls were scattered about the marsh.

**It’s Friday and time to take a look at what next week’s sky has in store for us courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason:

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2022 March 19 – March 26
I regard Leo the Lion as the signature constellation of spring, and it is not difficult to picture a lion in its distinctive pair of asterisms. A backwards question mark or a sickle represents its chest and mane, anchored by the bright star Regulus at its heart or front leg. To the east a triangle of stars forms the back leg and tail. Originally, a faint naked-eye cluster of stars represented a tuft at the end of the tail, but that now makes the tresses of the constellation Coma Berenices.

In mythology, the lion was a vicious creature that resided in the mountains of Nemea. Its hide was impenetrable to spears or arrows; the only thing sharp enough to penetrate the lion’s hide was its claws. The first of Hercules’s twelve labours was to kill this creature, which the legendary strongman did by strangulation. He then used the claws to cut off the lion’s hide for use as a shield. A friend of mine sees this constellation as a mouse, with the triangle as its head and the sickle as its tail. However, legends are not made by having a muscular demigod battle a mouse.

Amateur astronomers often point their telescopes at Leo for two trios of galaxies; one under the belly and the other by the back leg. Each trio can fit within the view through a wide-field telescope eyepiece. Five of the six galaxies are listed in the Messier catalogue of fuzzy objects that could be mistaken for comets.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:24 am and sunset will occur at 7:20 pm, giving 12 hours, 6 minutes of daylight (7:29 am and 7:35 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:10 am and set at 7:39 pm, giving 12 hours, 29 minutes of daylight (7:15 am and 7:44 pm in Saint John). On Sunday at 12:33 pm the Sun stands over the equator and spring is sprung in New Brunswick.

The Moon is at third quarter next Friday, rising at 3:40 am and setting just before noon. Venus is at greatest elongation from the Sun on Sunday, rising around 5:30 just ahead of Mars and 20 minutes ahead of Saturn. Mercury is near Jupiter on Monday, a difficult sighting with binoculars in bright twilight. Over the next two weeks rural observers might see the subtle wedge of zodiacal light engulfing Venus and its neighbours about an hour before sunrise.

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.