Editor & Proofreader

Editor: Nelson Poirier    Proofreader: Louise Nichols

Friday 23 September 2022

Sept 23 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Sept 23, 2022 (Friday)

 

 

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

 


 

**Leon Gagnon shares an excellent photo of a Baird’s Sandpiper he photographed in late August near Malbaie Sud Lagoon on Miscou Island, a shorebird we don’t often get to see. (Editor’s note: this species can be easily confused with the White-rumped Sandpiper. It is more buff brown and lacks the streaking that extends to the flanks leaving the white flank area. The small white patch on the forehead at the base of the bill is another clue. The whitish fringes on the upper parts suggest this bird to be a juvenile bird).

Leon was also able to get a a very quick photo of an Indigo Bunting in an aspen grove at Wilson Point on Miscou Island in early September, another species that we don’t often see in New Brunswick.

Leon had even more good fortune to have a Dickcissel visiting his yard accompanying American Goldfinch at his feeder and with White-throated Sparrows on the ground.

Leon tops all this with the finale of a beautiful Red-headed Woodpecker spotted on September 22 in Miscou Plains on the northern part of the island. It was frequently around a house bordering route 113 leading to the Miscou lighthouse.

 

 

**Bev Christie sends an excellent photograph of a Fishing a.k.a. Raft Spider that paid a visit to her daughter’s home.

 Fishing spiders, in the genus Dolomedes, are often found near or on water, but they also wander forests and suburban landscapes and make startling appearances in homes and outbuildings. On more than one occasion, fishing spiders have greeted folks in the basement or when they opened the door of a tool shed. Fishing spiders do not build webs to capture prey. They actively hunt and consume a smorgasbord of aquatic and semiaquatic animals: vertebrates such as fish, tadpoles, and toads, and a wide variety of invertebrates, with damselflies, water striders, aquatic beetles, and midges commonly on the menu.

They are among the largest spiders we have in North America.

 

**It’s Friday in the day to review 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 24 – October 1
This is a good time of year to double your sky observing time. For the next several weeks, before we return to Standard Time, the sky is dark and the stars are blazing when most people are up to start their day, and it is not bitterly cold or snowbound.
Orion and his dogs are prominent to the south, with Taurus, Auriga and Gemini arching over them.

In early evening you can see the 4th, 5th and 6th brightest stars. Look for yellow
Arcturus sinking to the west, blue-white Vega overhead and Capella in Auriga rising in the northeast. Later, notice the positions of the circumpolar Big Dipper, Little Dipper and Cassiopeia. The next morning go outside and see how they have changed. Sometimes it is nice to have a little assurance that the world keeps right on turning.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:08 am and sunset will occur at 7:12 pm, giving 12 hours, 4 minutes of daylight (7:13 am and 7:17 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:17 am and set at 6:59 pm, giving 11 hours, 42 minutes of daylight (7:22 am and 7:04 pm in Saint John).
On Sunday we are closest to equal daylight and night, with 12 hours, 58 seconds of daylight.

The new Moon phase occurs on Saturday, a time for observing galaxies, star clusters and nebulae which are known collectively as deep sky objects.
Saturn is in the south at 10:30 pm, and about 7 degrees above it telescope users might see its deep sky lookalike, the planetary nebula NGC 7009, also called the Saturn Nebula. Jupiter is at opposition on Monday, making its closest approach to Earth in six decades. Mars has moved to about halfway between the V-shaped face of Taurus the Bull and its horn tips. Having just passed inferior conjunction, by Friday Mercury will be rising an hour before sunrise. Venus rises in bright twilight a half-hour before sunrise. This week and next, people in rural areas have an opportunity to spot the subtle wedge of zodiacal light in the east before morning twilight.

Public observing for the Kouchibouguac Fall Star Fest on September 23-24 has been cancelled due to forecast stormy weather. Public observing to celebrate Fall Astronomy Day is scheduled for October 1 at the Irving Nature Park in Saint John. Check the Facebook page for park or the Saint John Astronomy Club website for details.

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

 

 

 Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

 

DICKCISSEL. SEPT 13, 2022. LEON GAGNON

DICKCISSEL. SEPT 13, 2022. LEON GAGNON

DICKCISSEL WITH WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. SEPT 13, 2022. LEON GAGNON

BAIRD'S SANDPIPER. AUG 26, 2022. LEON GAGNON

RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. SEPT 22, 2022. LEON GAGNON

INDIGO BUNTING. SEPT 4, 2022. LEON GAGNON

FISHING AKA RAFT SPIDER. SEPT 22, 2022.  VIA BEV CHRISTIE

FISHING AKA RAFT SPIDER. SEPT 22, 2022.  VIA BEV CHRISTIE

Autumn Morning