Nature Moncton Nature News: May 12 2023

May 12, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**The tree planting event that Nature Moncton was supposed to participate in tomorrow, Saturday, has been postponed due to forecasted rain. The new date will be confirmed soon but is expected to be Saturday, May 27.

** Shannon Inman captured a photo of an adult male Baltimore Oriole trying to figure out the hummingbird feeder, catching the blaze of colour this species flashes.

Shannon also photographed Trout Lilies in striking bloom with suspected Mason Bees collecting pollen.

John Inman was able to get 3 nice photos from different angles of an adult male Dickcissel that visited his yard briefly on Thursday before a Merlin came zooming through. John’s photos nicely show the yellowish eyebrow, thick bill, and chestnut wing coverts that are distinctive to the Dickcissel.

John reports that approximately 100 Blue Jays passed through a few days ago in spring migration. He expects that to double.

**The Wilson’s Snipe can be a very elusive bird to photograph. Sue Berube was able to get 2 photos of a Wilson’s Snipe on the Riverview Marsh on Thursday. It was very vocal.

The bird apparently felt it was in complete camouflage and not being seen among the dead cattails.

**Deana and Peter Gadd have had 2 White-crowned Sparrows with them for 3 or 4 days. On Thursday, they looked at them a little more closely. The subject of the second photo shows a few differences from the subject in the first, it perhaps being the normal eastern, White-crowned Sparrow.

The most obvious difference is the very clear white throat, much like the White-throated Sparrow. Also, there is no black at the base of the beak. The black line through the eye is almost non-existent. The hind quarters seem more tan in colour.

Deana has done some hurried research and suggests that the second White-crowned Sparrow is an ‘Intergrade’, the product of two sub-species of the same species, rather than a hybrid, the product of two different species.

Peter comments he must work harder at ‘seeing’ rather than just ‘looking’!

** Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins had Evening Grosbeaks in her yard on May 10th, no doubt disappointed that Jane has taken the feeders down since they were there last.

Jane and new Nature Moncton member Judith Ives were driving from Cornhill to Sussex on Route 890 and found an Osprey in her nest on a power tower.

Judith also told Jane about several Greater Yellowlegs that were in the harbour in St. Martins.

On May 11th Judith phoned Jane to say she had warblers around her house. Jane went to find Black and White Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-Throated Green Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, and others not identified. In true warbler fashion, they did not pose for many photos.

**The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are arriving on schedule nicely.

Oscar LeBlanc in Ste. Marie reports that his first arrival was on May 11.

**Anna Tucker walked around Centennial Park Lake on Thursday afternoon, commenting on what a pleasant walk about it was.

The Canada Geese were abundant there and very loud and territorial.

Many Red Squirrels and small birds were present and lots of plants bursting out on their seasonal mission.

Anna was very happy to see and get good photos of the male Wood Duck. She saw the female at first with her mate alongside but then did not spot her again.

(Editor’s note: it would be pleasant for the public to see Wood Duck ducklings on the island in the pond).

**On Thursday, Brian Stone spent several hours sitting on the boardwalk at the Irving Nature Park in Saint John waiting and hoping that the visiting Tri-coloured Heron would come close enough for some great close-up photos, but he had to be satisfied with some long-distant and medium distant images that needed deep cropping and significant processing. The heron did make one flyby that was reasonably close, and five of the dozen photos of that event somehow were in focus.

Brian also noted that the sky was strangely hazy all day, and at sunset, the Sun was dim enough to be photographed without a filter. Some sunspots can even be made out on the Sun's surface near the bottom and top.

**Friday has arrived in time 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, 2023 May 13 – May 20
This week stargazers have an opportunity to do an ISS marathon. The International Space Station orbits the Earth at an altitude of about 400 km, and at this height, it completes an orbit in approximately 90 minutes. The ISS has large solar panels that reflect sunlight earthward, which makes it bright enough to rival Jupiter and Venus at times. Usually, we can catch it once or twice in the morning twilight for a period of about ten days, then in the evening twilight for the same stretch, and then it is unseen for a while as the overhead passes are in daylight or shadow. For a month on either side of the summer solstice, when we have long periods of twilight, the ISS can be seen four or five times from evening through to morning. If you see it in each pass throughout the night, you have completed the ISS marathon.

To determine when and where to look I use the website Heavens-Above, but there are other apps such as Satellite Safari that give the same information and may even give you an alert when a pass is about to occur. Heavens-Above defaults to zero degrees latitude and longitude, so be sure to enter your location. Information includes the date and time, brightness, altitude, and azimuth of when it is first visible (usually ten degrees above the horizon), at its highest, and when it disappears into earth’s shadow or below ten degrees. Brightness is given in stellar magnitude, where the lower the number the brighter is the object, and the ISS is usually bright enough to be a negative number (magnitude -3 is about 2.5 times brighter than -2). With the Heavens-Above website, clicking on the date brings up a sky map showing the path of the ISS through the constellations. Since the earth rotates under the satellite, the path through the constellations will differ with each pass, but it is always approximately west to east.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 5:49 am and sunset will occur at 8:42 pm, giving 14 hours, 53 minutes of daylight (5:56 am and 8:44 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 5:41 am and set at 8:50 pm, giving 15 hours, 9 minutes of daylight (5:49 am and 8:52 pm in Saint John).

The Moon is near Saturn this Saturday morning, and it is new next Friday. On Wednesday morning between approximately 8:56 and 9:56 the Moon passes in front of Jupiter. They will be almost halfway up the sky toward the southeast, with the Sun to the lower left so try to block it out with a tree or building. It will be a challenge to catch this in a telescope but lunar occultations of a planet are quite rare. Venus is making a move on Mars and it will be fun to watch this chase play out over the next few weeks. Jupiter rises 50 minutes before the Sun this weekend and could be visible with binoculars in the twilight. Mercury rises more than 20 minutes later, but it will likely be too dim to pick out until next month.

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.