Nature Moncton Nature News: Dec 16 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Dec 16, 2022

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**The 62nd Moncton bird count is happening tomorrow Saturday, Dec 17. Field parties covering the 24 km diameter circle centered on the Avenir Centre are all set up and ready to go but if you have bird feeders and could spare a bit of time on Saturday the 17th to count the birds coming to them, it could be a great help. If you are interested, please get in touch with our feeder watch coordinator Susan Atkinson at susandatkinson@hotmail.com

Roger Leblanc the Moncton CBC compiler also reminds us that count week (3 days before and 3 days after count day) started Tuesday at midnight so if you see a species that is not expected at your feeders or in your travels in the city and that might not be seen on count day, please make an effort to report it. A good example of such birds would be a Northern Flicker, Boreal Chickadee, Great Blue Heron, and many others. So let us know because it will go on the Audubon Christmas Bird Count website and so be available forever for bird conservation research.

Compiler Roger comments that on Wednesday, 4 species (Merlin, Northern Flicker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and Bohemian Waxwing) were reported that we might not get on the day of the count. It shows the importance of keeping our eyes open through to Dec 20 and reporting.

**On Thursday, Mac Wilmot had a raptor check out their bird feeder yard menu to select a Mourning Dove as prey.

Mac comments the hawk appeared to be in the larger female Sharp-shinned Hawk range with Cooper’s Hawk as a possibility.

Like many other birdfeeder yards this year, Mac comments he has lots of Mourning Doves to share/spare!

**On Saturday Brian Stone was visiting with his sister in Upham and spent some time walking along the Fundy Parkway Trail in nice but cold weather. Even though the park was closed for the season he could park at the entrance and walk in on the trails as far as he could manage. He missed photos of a couple of Ruffed Grouse and other birds but was able to get a Snowshoe Hare that had been resting beside the trail as it tried to hide in the undergrowth cover. It stood out though as the absence of snow did not mix well with its white winter colouration. Brian also photographed some examples of Fungi and Lichens.

**On Sunday Brian Stone visited Rockwood Park and Lily Lake in Saint John and spent some time photographing the group of 5 American Coots that have been foraging there for a while now and also the tightly packed troupe of Mallard Ducks in the smaller side pond. A small family of 3 White-tailed Deer posed on one of the trails before becoming camera-shy and sauntering away. A Red Squirrel was noted chewing the tips of Fir tree branches and more Ground Frost was poking up in shadowed areas. In a tree close by a diminutive Downy Woodpecker was working diligently and a wide "V" of Canada Geese flew overhead.

Brian also visited the Rothsay and Hampton lagoons to observe at least 7 or 8 Turkey Vultures still present and a few more White-tailed Deer browsing the cemetery at the Hampton lagoons. What Brian suspects was a Vireo Nest was wedged and woven into the branch of a short shrub. Back at Upham Brian tried some Evening Grosbeak photography through his sister's window.

On Monday afternoon Brian Stone headed out to Murray Rd. in hopes of getting a close view of the rare Mountain Bluebird but had to be satisfied with a distant view through a scope that was less than satisfactory. On his way home from the area, he noticed a nice Sun Pillar forming above the setting Sun and stopped for a few photos.

https://atoptics.co.uk/halo/pillar.htm

Early on Tuesday Brian Stone made another attempt to locate the Mountain Bluebird in the Murray Rd. area but was unsuccessful once again. The weather was windy and cold with occasional precipitation of mixed rain and small hail and as Brian left for home in the early afternoon, he stopped along the way to check the coastal wharves in a couple of spots. He got lucky at the Petit Cap wharf with a close-up experience with a Black Guillemot and a nearby adult male Long-tailed Duck. He also spent some time photographing gulls that were hovering in the strong winds with various stages of Iceland Gull predominating.

**Nelson Poirier checked in on the Great Egret on Thursday that has been visiting the retention pond on Lorne Street in Sackville. It was still present but not looking as content as it did in the photos Louise Nichols took a few days ago.

**It’s Friday and our 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 December 17 – December 24
The most inconspicuous of the zodiac constellations is faint Cancer the Crab, which is nestled between Gemini and Leo. In mythology the crab was sent by the goddess queen Hera to distract Hercules while he was battling the Hydra. The crab was no match for the strongman’s stomp. Ancient Egyptians saw it as their sacred dung beetle, the scarab. In the first millennium BCE the Sun was in Cancer at the summer solstice, the time when it halts its northward motion and slowly starts heading south. This back-and-forth motion of the rising and setting Sun on the horizon was perhaps reminiscent of a crab sidling on a beach.
The constellation is recognized by a trapezoid of dim but naked eye stars as the crab’s body, with other stars representing the claws and legs. The trapezoid was also seen as a manger flanked by a pair of donkeys, Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australus. On a clear dark night, we can see a hazy patch of hay within the manger, and binoculars reveal it as a beautiful star cluster called the Beehive, Praesepe (manger) or M44. Being near the ecliptic, the Moon and planets often pass through or near this cluster. The Beehive was once used to forecast storms, for if it could not be seen it was hidden by light clouds at the front of a weather system. Binoculars reveal another star cluster, M67, less than fist-width south of M44.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:56 am and sunset will occur at 4:34 pm, giving 8 hours, 38 minutes of daylight (7:58 am and 4:42 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:59 am and set at 4:37 pm, giving 8 hours, 38 minutes of daylight (8:01 am and 4:45 pm in Saint John). The Winter Solstice occurs on Wednesday at 5:48 pm: Winter will have arrived.

The Moon is new on Friday, December 23, giving dark skies for observing over the Christmas weekend. The slim crescent Moon makes a tight triangle with Mercury and Venus, low over the southwest horizon, at 5 pm on Christmas Eve, but binoculars will be needed. Mercury is at greatest elongation from the Sun on Wednesday, within a wide binocular view to the upper left of brighter Venus. Saturn is setting before 9 pm by midweek, while Jupiter is at its highest around 8:30; around which time telescope users might catch its Great Red Spot on Monday. On Tuesday a telescope will show Jupiter’s icy moon Europa reappear from behind the planet at 6:14 pm, disappear into the planet’s shadow 12 minutes later, and reappear at 8:56. In Taurus, Mars continues to outshine all of the bright stars of the Winter Circle, but by next weekend it will have dimmed to the brightness of Sirius. The moonless sky on Thursday night improves our chances of seeing some meteors of the Ursid shower, which emanate from near the bowl of the Little Dipper in the north.
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.