Nature Moncton Nature News: Jan 13 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Jan 13, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**Vivian Beale had a rewarding day on Thursday at her feeders. The pleasant diversity included a pair of Northern Cardinals, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, a Ring-necked Pheasant on their deck, and a White-throated Sparrow.

Vivian also watched and got a photo of what appeared to be a Cooper’s Hawk that had its eye on a Mourning Dove.
An apparent American Goldfinch patronizing a suet feeder often turns out to be a Pine Warbler which is exactly what Vivian is aware she now has as a regular patron.

**The plumage of some gull species can be quite variable and the Iceland Gull may be one of the most noticeable as we get different subspecies that winter with us. Richard Blaquiere got an excellent photo of two 1st winter Iceland Gulls side-by-side that really show that variation as he was checking gulls at the Hampton lagoon.

**Rough-legged Hawk observations seem to be at a premium this season; however, Aldo Dorio was able to capture a documentary photo of one at Hay Island on Thursday.
It was under the watchful eye of an adult Bald Eagle.

**Brian Stone looked out on his deck Thursday to find a nice track line in the snow that he assumed was a small mammal but it turned out to be a bird of some type. (Editor’s note: the tracks imprinted nicely and seem to be quite close together to suggest a small bird was checking out possibilities on Brian’s deck. It shows the importance of following a trail for a distance to decide ‘who done it’).

**It’s Friday and time to review what we may see in the night sky on nights Mother Nature does not block us out. Sky forecast courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2023 January 14 – January 21
Bright stars and eye-catching asterisms such as Orion’s Belt, the Big Dipper, and the Pleaides were obvious targets to immortalize earthly creatures and activities. Rather than Orion being a hunter and the giant son of Poseidon, to the Egyptians he was Osiris, the god of light, riding up the Nile on a boat. In parts of China, he was Commander Tsan, protecting farmers from barbarians seeking to steal their winter supplies. Brazilian tribes saw the figure as a turtle, or as the body of a giant caiman with its tail and head extending to constellations above and below Orion. The Inuit saw Orion’s belt and sword as three hunters pulling a sledge and chasing a bear, represented by the red star Betelgeuse, into the sky.

The Big Dipper forms the back half of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. In Britain it is The Plough, ancient Germans saw it as seven plowing oxen, and for others, it was obviously a cart. Local First Nations people saw the bowl of the Big Dipper as a bear and the handle stars, along with other stars in the constellation Boötes, as hunters. The hunters, who are named for birds, chase the bear from spring to autumn until only the three closest hunters remain above the horizon, at which time the bear is slain by Robin. The bear’s blood stains Robin’s chest and the leaves of the trees.

The Pleiades represent seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione and they mark the shoulder of Taurus the Bull. The Maori of New Zealand imagined them as the prow of their founder’s canoe, with the upper half of Orion forming the stern. Cherokee legend in the southeastern United States tells of seven boys who, in response to being punished for not working, performed a Feather Dance and ascended to the sky. To the Ojibwe Orion, along with the stars Procyon and Aldebaran, was the Wintermaker; and the Pleiades was the Hole-in-the-Sky through which the spirits of the dead joined the star people.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:58 am and sunset will occur at 4:58 pm, giving 9 hours of daylight (8:00 am and 5:06 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:53 am and set at 5:08 pm, giving 9 hours, 15 minutes of daylight (7:55 am and 5:15 pm in Saint John).

The Moon is at third quarter this Saturday, and the new moon next Saturday occurs at the same time it reaches perigee. Venus puts the moves on Saturn over the week, reducing their separation by a binocular width and climaxing in a very close conjunction next weekend. Jupiter is now setting before 11 pm and on Friday, although we won’t notice any difference, it reaches its closest distance from the Sun in its 12-year orbit. Telescope users might see Jupiter’s Red Spot around 6 pm Sunday, 7:30 Tuesday, and 9 on Wednesday. Mars inches slowly eastward from the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters, but it still dominates the scene. Mercury rises about an hour before sunrise this weekend, extending that by 25 minutes next weekend.

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.