Nature Moncton Nature News: May 27 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

May 27, 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

**Due to weather predictions for tomorrow, Saturday, the Nature Moncton field trip to Baie Verte and Port Elgin has been postponed to Sunday with all details the same as in the writeup below:

NATURE MONCTON FIELD TRIP TO THE BAIE VERTE NATURE RESERVE AND PORT ELGIN LAGOON

DATE: Sunday May 29^th

TIME: 9:30 AM

MEETING PLACE: The parking lot of Saint James United Church at the corner of Main St. (Rte 970) and Siddall Rd. in Baie Verte.

GUIDES: Louise Nichols (location) and Roger Leblanc (birds)

The end of May can be a very active time in Nature. While this is the case everywhere there are some spots where the “show” seems to be concentrated. And one of these is certainly the coastal region between Baie Verte and Port Elgin. Situated at the northeastern end of the Isthmus of Chignecto it is clearly on a bird migration route but also harbors vast marsh and coastal habitats that favor a lot of life forms from insects to plants and more. On this field trip, we’ll explore a couple of special spots in this unique region. From the starting point at the church, we will drive down Siddall Rd. until we get to the Baie Verte Nature Reserve, protected by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. We will then walk an easy trail (about 2 km one way) that passes through some marsh areas, open fields and woods until it finally reaches the beaches of the Northumberland Strait. The area’s diversity is good for birds, but also butterflies, dragonflies, and a variety of plant species. We will pass by an Osprey nest which was active last summer.

Afterward, we’ll drive along Rte 970 to Port Elgin where we’ll stop and visit the lagoon in the centre of town. This lagoon (not widely known) tends to attract a different variety of waterfowl from some other lagoons, with more diving ducks, especially Buffleheads in the spring and fall. The lagoon also attracts swallows to the nest boxes erected at the lagoon and many warbler species to the treed areas around it. If we have time, we can walk a moderately rough trail about half a kilometre through the woods that ends in a marshy area along the shoreline of the Gaspereau River.

Bring a lunch and snacks.

All are welcome, Nature Moncton member or not.

**On Thursday morning in the Riviere des Caches estuary at Hay Island, Peter and Deana Gadd spotted a “white as snow” Great Egret as it glided into the water alongside three or four feeding Great Blue Herons. Lovely to watch. Peter’s accompanying photo suggests the differences in size. The length and wingspan (37” and 60” respectively) of the Great Egret are considerably smaller than those of the Great Blue Heron (54” and 69”).

Aldo Dorio also spotted the Great Egret and shares some photos as well.

**John Inman in Harvey, Albert County, has had a second visit from a male Indigo Bunting. John also has a Gray Catbird enjoying orange sections and a second leg-banded Rock Dove has arrived.

A new warbler, a male Blackpoll Warbler also dropped by allowing John to get a nice photograph. We only tend to see this warbler in spring and fall during migration as it breeds to the north of us.

**Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins was out in her yard Thursday, trying to prevent her puppy from digging up everything and/or falling in the pond, and she managed to catch a Blue-headed Vireo splashing in the stream going into her pond. She also saw a female Cape May Warbler doing the same.

**Last Sunday, Brian Coyle was out to his trail cameras and luckily

 had brought his camera along. There was lots of warbler activity,

 but elusive to photograph. He was fortunate to get a few photos

 of these fast-moving birds including Common Yellowthroat Warbler,

 Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and Killdeer as a bonus.

**While he was down by the landing of the Petitcodiac River/Halls Creek, Georges Brun noted 100 + Common Eider fly over the

 Champlain Mall area; they then headed north-east towards the Shediac area Thursday evening. (Editors note: the flock would seem

 very predominantly male to make one wonder if this is a bachelor

 flock with the females already on their nests).

Georges is also noticing the two adult Peregrine Falcons at the nest

 box atop Assumption Place and is suspicious he could see 2 chicks.

**Brian Stone visited Louise Nichols' property on Thursday to see if he could get some pictures of her 2 elfin butterfly species but was only successful in finding the more common Brown Elfin Butterfly. While searching, unsuccessfully, for the Henry's Elfin Brian took pictures of 4 different Northern Azure Butterflies showing the variation in their appearance. He also got photos of Spiny Baskettail, Dot-tailed whiteface, and American Emerald Dragonflies that might not be identified by publication time. A colourfully patterned Black-banded Orange Moth caught his attention as well as a Yellow-washed Metarranthis Moth.

**Nelson Poirier photographed a Brown Elfin Butterfly on Thursday perched on a dirt road. The host plants of this butterfly are members of the heath family. The elfins are small butterflies with a relatively short flight period in the spring.

Nelson also photographed Cinnamon Fern and Interrupted Fern as they open and unfurl showing the fertile spore bearing parts where they are located on each species. The Cinnamon Fern has separate fertile fronds whereas the Interrupted Fern has its fertile parts on a section of some of the main blades.

**It’s Friday and time to check in on what next week's sky may have in store for us courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2022 May 21 – May 28
When Charley Pride sang “Snakes Crawl at Night” he wasn’t talking about the constellations, but he might as well have been. When twilight gives way to darkness there are two snakes stretching nearly halfway across the sky. The first is Hydra the female water snake, which is also the largest constellation. It is so long it takes eight hours to rise completely. At 11 pm these evenings it stretches along the horizon with its head in the west and its tail to the south. In this position the snake takes only three hours to nestle underground

Almost as long but more U-shaped is Serpens, the only constellation that is in two parts, separated by Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer. The western half is called Serpens Caput, the head of the snake, and the eastern half is the tail, Serpens Cauda. Ophiuchus represents Asclepius, a son of Apollo, who learned the healing arts by watching a snake bring another back to life. The Rod of Asclepius, a snake entwined around a staff, is the symbol of medicine and health.

If you like things in threes you can look at serpentine Draco as a snake instead of a dragon. Its tail begins above the bowl of the Big Dipper, with the body curling around the Little Dipper before arcing back toward the foot of Hercules. If that doesn’t suit you then you can go Down Under to see Hydrus the male water snake slithering around the south celestial pole.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 5:34 am and sunset will occur at 8:59 pm, giving 15 hours, 25 minutes of daylight (5:42 am and 9:01 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 5:30 am and set at 9:05 pm, giving 15 hours, 35 minutes of daylight (5:38 am and 9:07 pm in Saint John).

The Moon is new on Monday, making this a good weekend to explore the realm of the galaxies among the constellations of Virgo, Leo, Coma Berenices, Canes Venatici and Ursa Major. Over the weekend and into Monday, Mars passes a little more than a Moon-width below Jupiter. You will have to be up before the robins to catch this colourful sight as they rise around 3 am. Come midweek Saturn is rising around 1:30 and Venus around 4. Mercury has joined the morning planetary parade but it will be a couple of weeks before it gets bright enough to emerge from twilight. Some astronomers are predicting the possibility of a meteor shower very early Tuesday morning, resulting from an outburst of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann in 1995. If it occurs they are likely to be dim and emanate from the area of the bright star Arcturus in the west. I saw three pieces of that comet in 2006.

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.