Nature Moncton Nature News: Sept 2 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Sept 2, 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

**Juvenile Turkey Vultures appeared in Hampton right on schedule again this year. Richard Blaquiere saw the first one on 27 August, and Thursday morning at least 4 were observed on the ground near the 3rd (largest) pond. The attached photo from Thursday shows one perched with an adult bird in a tree near where they roost at night.

**Fred Richards photographed a very plump American Toad that remained on the leaf of a Hosta plant for 3 days. From the appearance of the distended abdomen, it possibly had a lot of digesting to do and took 3 days to do it!

**Mac Wilmot’s neighbour, Bob Steeves, brought a Giant Puffball over to Mac’s as a demo. Bob says it fruits every 2 years in the same spot. (Editor’s note: this makes complete sense as the underground mycelia would always be there ready to send up a fruiting body whenever the conditions are right). It weighed in just 3 oz. shy of 5 lbs.

One can sure understand why these puffballs get called giant both for common and scientific names. When fresh, as this specimen appears, it is very edible when the interior is pure white. It can be cut in sections and sautéed taking on the flavour of whatever it is cooked with.

**Aldo Dorio was able to capture a nice photo of a cooperative female American Pelecinid Wasp on Thursday.

The female can measure almost 2 ½ inches long, with her abdomen 5 times the length of the rest of her body; males are only about an inch long. The female reaches down into the soil with that jointed flexible abdomen and finds the presence of the larval grub of a June Beetle. She deposits her egg directly into/onto the grub and when her larva hatches, its feeding kills the grub and feeds upon it until it is ready to pupate.

**Lisa Morris got two good photos of two members of the order Orthoptera that were not perched in their more normal cryptic backgrounds.

One photo shows a katydid. We have several species of katydid in New Brunswick. Each species has a recognizable song (stridulation) to the trained ear as the males vie for female attention at this time of year.

Lisa also got a photograph of one of the band-winged species of grasshoppers. We have 2 common Species in New Brunswick, one of which makes a crackling sound while the other is silent. They can be very cryptic and easily missed on a ground background.

**Brian Stone sends a few more photos from his never ending supply of Keji camping pictures. Many Pickerel Frogs were visible along the trails, streams and rivers at the park. It was the dominant frog seen on his hikes although some Wood Frogs and American Toads also managed to expose themselves to the lens. Brian experimented with cell phone astrophotography while there and he shares a selection of images of the Summer Triangle, an asterism that is large and clear and high overhead on summer nights. An asterism is a group of stars that are not a constellation but form a recognizable "image" that usually has its own name. Some asterisms are contained within a specific constellation, such as the Big Dipper in Ursa Major, but others can be made from select stars of different constellations that are near each other like the Summer Triangle. The three brightest stars of the constellations Cygnus (star Deneb), Lyra (star Vega), and Aquila (star Altair) form a large triangle in the summer sky that entices a person to draw imaginary lines connecting them due to their brightness compared to the other stars in their constellations. Just one of the many wonders visible without aid in a clear night sky.

Brian also sends some pictures from his walk in Mapleton Park on Thursday morning to include an American Lady Butterfly.

In the afternoon he joined Nelson Poirier at Louise Nichols' home to check out and test her new inflatable kayak. Nelson took to it well and was impressed with its handling but Brian was not as skilled and floundered more than he had hoped. A lack of experience surely is the only reason as photographers are usually great and excel at everything they try!!

At Louise's kayak launch area a small Wasp's Nest opening in the ground caused some concern and forced a change of location but Brian bravely got close and managed some photos and a video of their activity.

Take a look at the action at the Video link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/exognjpwyimwh5x/Wasp%20Nest%20Sept.%2001%2C%202022.mp4?dl=0

**A heads up to set aside Saturday, September 10 for a Nature Moncton shorebird field trip to Petit-Cap dune. Details below:

NATURE MONCTON OUTING

Shorebird ID “uncomplicated”

Date: Saturday Sept. 10^th

Time: 2:00 pm

Meeting Place: One Fish Bistro (5670, Rte 15 in Shemogue)

It’s interesting to note that of the 38 species of shorebirds ever recorded in the province you could (with a bit of luck … well maybe more than a bit) see all but 5 any given year at many spots where water meets land in the province. But that said there are some very special places where your chances are not only better of seeing large numbers but also diversity of species. For numbers, the Johnson’s Mills to Dorchester Cape site is well known and certainly offers a very special spectacle to take in. But IDing an individual bird in a group of several thousand is far from easy and diversity is not actually at its highest at that location. If you want diversity, there are better spots and one of the best in recent years has been the Petit-Cap Dune, and more precisely, the lagoon it protects. At low tide the exposed flats create an “all you can eat” banquet for shorebirds as well as other sea birds.

Nature Moncton is offering a guided outing to Petit-Cap with our own shorebird expert Roger Leblanc. For shorebird viewing, tides are of the essence, so the following date and time frame is very important. The date will be September 10^th and the meeting for the outing will be at 2 pm in the parking lot of One Fish Bistro at 5676 Route 15 in Shemogue. This is just at the corner of Route 950 which we will drive down, and in less than 5 minutes we will arrive at the Petit-Cap Dune. The walk on the beach is an easy hike on to the point where you can access the mud flats behind the dune. Birds can be expected on the beach but should also mostly be feeding on the mud flats that will be exposed by low tide at that time. Once there, you might want to walk in a bit of water to get closer to the show so bring appropriate footwear, or just be ready to go shoeless. Roger will help us find and ID the shorebirds (as well as the many other feathered friends hanging around). He will also share with us his knowledge of the great migration phenomenon that will hopefully be unfolding right before our eyes. Hope to see you there!

All are welcome, Nature Moncton member or not.

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

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2022 September 3 – September 10
Technically, any three stars in the sky will form some sort of a triangle, but there are those that stand out. Overhead in early evening is the best-known celestial threesome, the isosceles Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb and Altair. Straddling the Milky Way, each star is the brightest in their respective constellations of Lyra the Harp, Cygnus the Swan, and Aquila the Eagle. An ancient tale of Eastern mythology depicted Vega and Altair as lovers separated by a river (the Milky Way). I look at them as an updated version of that tale, that of Running Bear and White Dove in the Johnny Preston hit written by the Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson. The Big Bopper would be a good name for a constellation.

With the Summer Triangle overhead, the constellation Triangulum the Triangle is low in the east below Andromeda. Known as a constellation for thousands of years, it has been said to represent, among other things, the Nile Delta and the island of Sicily. If you have a dark sky, use binoculars to look about a third of the way and a tad to the right, between the tip of Triangulum and the orange star Mirach in Andromeda above, to see the face-on spiral galaxy M33.

Now that summer is fading, and if you can't wait for winter, just look to the east in morning darkness for the Winter Triangle. Orange Betelgeuse in Orion's armpit joins with Orion's companion Dog Stars of Sirius and Procyon to form an equilateral triangle. All three stars make the top ten in brightness.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:42 am and sunset will occur at 7:53 pm, giving 13 hours, 11 minutes of daylight (6:48 am and 7:57 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 6:51 am and set at 7:40 pm, giving 12 hours, 49 minutes of daylight (6:56 am and 7:44 pm in Saint John).

The Moon is at first quarter on Saturday, and it is full next Saturday, the Harvest Moon. Mercury is dimming and setting half an hour after sunset, making it a difficult planet to see with binoculars. Saturn is at its highest and best for observing around 11:30 this week. Jupiter rises around 8:20 pm midweek and telescope users might see its Red Spot around 9 pm Wednesday. Mars is now brighter than any star except Sirius, and its disc is large enough for observing some telescopic features under very good conditions. Rising around 11 pm, it is seen best in early morning within a binocular view of similarly hued Aldebaran in Taurus. Venus is close to Regulus in Leo on Monday morning.

The RASC NB Fundy Park Stargaze takes place on Friday and Saturday, September 2-3. For information on activities, admission and location see: https://rascnb.ca/event/fundy-stargaze/

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