Nature Moncton Nature News: October 20 2023

Nature Moncton Nature News

October 20, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**The Nature Moncton field trip that was planned to Cape Jourimain Wildlife Area for this coming Saturday has been weather-postponed until next Saturday, October 28, with rain date for Sunday, October 29. The write-up for this field trip is below and will be repeated approaching the end of next week.

NATURE MONCTON OUTING

CAPE JOURIMAIN WILDLIFE AREA WALK

Saturday October 28^st (rain date Sunday October 29^th)

Meeting time and place: 9:30 AM in the parking lot of the Cape Jourimain Nature Centre

(The Centre is located off Hwy 16, the last stop before the Confederation Bridge)

The Cape Jourimain Wildlife Area offers several trails that run through some unique wild areas. On this walk, we’ll take two of the trails that travel along the coast of the Northumberland Strait. The Lighthouse Trail gives magnificent views of the Confederation Bridge while passing through both forested and field areas. At the centre of the loop trail is the historic Cape Jourimain Lighthouse. The Gunning Trail follows the coast on the opposite side of Hwy 16, providing great views of the Northumberland Strait as it meanders through forest. The centre of this loop provides a viewing platform that looks out over a brackish marsh.

Bring a lunch and wear good hiking shoes. The trails are from easy to moderate level of difficulty. Bring binoculars if you have some. Nature Moncton has a couple of extra binoculars that we can lend out if someone does not have a pair.

Come join a group of enthusiastic naturalists who will find whatever natural wonders these two trails have to offer!

All are welcome, Nature Moncton member or not.

**The White-rumped Sandpiper is one of our sandpipers that tends to linger quite late in the season before migrating south.

Aldo Dorio photographed a White-rumped Sandpiper at Hay Island on Thursday.

A good field mark of the White-rumped Sandpiper is the small reddish patch at the base of the lower mandible. Gilles Belliveau points out this is much brighter in the spring and in breeding plumage, but this time of year, it will appear pinkish. Aldo’s photos are enlarged to help point out that feature, and zooming in on the photos will show it better.

**Anna Tucker visited the Sackville Waterfowl Park this week and found many dabbling ducks out on the water, such as Gadwall, American Wigeon, and Mallard Ducks. A Pied-billed Grebe got Anna’s attention, and she comments the trees are beautiful in bright fall colour at the Waterfowl Park at the moment.

**Honey Mushrooms are very prevalent right now, and I will spend a moment identifying them as they are a very popular edible with many people that should be relatively easy to identify. Several features are arrowed in the photos of Shannon Inman and Nelson Poirier.

They appear in clusters that may be crowded or loose, especially around stumps and tree bases. When the cap is just opening, note the partial veil contact between the cap and the stalk, which separates to form a partial veil on the stalk with an Elizabethan collar appearance. The spore print is white but can have a yellowish cast to it as the photograph shows. Growing in clusters allows the spore print colour to be determined in situ by removing some of the top caps of the cluster to take note of the colour of the spores dropping on the caps below. Observation of these points should confirm the identity of this common and popular mushroom.

**Brian and Annette Stone visited the Hampton Lagoon on Thursday morning, and Brian sends a few photos of the many ducks and other bird life that were present in the first and third lagoon. American Wigeon ducks were the most plentiful, followed by Northern Shoveler Ducks, Green-winged Teal Ducks, Northern Pintail Ducks, Gadwall Ducks, and a few Lesser Scaups. Some Ring-billed Gulls were perched on lagoon pipes, and one decided to show off its wings for the camera.

(Editor's note: note the excellent view of the Northern Pintail speculum in Brian's flight photo, showing dark brown bordered in white on the trailing edge.)

A pair of Double-crested Cormorants joined the gulls perching on the lagoon pipes, and a group of Turkey Vultures rested on the fence and lagoon rim. As Brian was leaving the lagoon area, he heard a familiar call and looked up to see an Osprey perching on a power pole.

Gilles Belliveau leaves some comments on Osprey observations that are significant to note. Gilles comments “It is getting late for Osprey observations, but there could still be some around, but most would be gone south by now. There are records into late October and possibly a few documented records from November. There are occasional reports during the winter list period (which Gilles maintains) but none have been documented with photos, and the ones that were photographed turned out to be young Bald Eagles, some of which develop a pattern that looks a bit like an Osprey but not really.”

On the drive home, Annette spotted a young White-tailed Deer lazily foraging on the side of the road, and they halted the car long enough for the little deer to cross in front of them.

(Editor’s note: in Brian’s photo, this animal is shedding its chestnut summer pelage for the thicker, insulating hollow-haired grey-brown pelage of winter.)

**It’s Friday in our day to review what we can expect to see in next week’s night sky courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason. It looks like the weekend may be a washout, but next week is coming!

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2023 October 21 – October 28
Mid-autumn is a time for late-evening whale watching while the large constellation of Cetus the Whale is approaching the southern sky. Many of its stars are not particularly bright so it can be elusive, but you can piece it together in a fairly dark sky. The eastern side of the square of Pegasus is a handy arrow that points down toward Diphda, the brightest star in Cetus. Also called Deneb Kaitos, “the tail of the whale,” it anchors a pentagram of stars forming the rear half of Cetus below dim Pisces. A circlet of stars to the upper left, west of Taurus, is the whale’s head.

A famous star in Cetus is Mira, perhaps the first star to be recognized as a variable or one that changes its brightness regularly. The name Mira translates as “wonderful.” It is a red giant star that expands and contracts, while brightening as it expands. At minimum brightness it cannot be seen with binoculars but every 11 months it brightens to easy naked eye visibility. Midway on the western side of the circlet of the whale’s head is a star which anchors an asterism that resembles a question mark. Don’t ask why, just try it with binoculars. A scope or binoculars could reveal the galaxy M77 approximately midway between Mira and Menkar, the star at the bottom of the circlet.

In mythology Cetus represents the sea monster created by Poseidon to ravage the coastal area of Ethiopia as punishment for Queen Cassiopeia’s bragging. Her daughter Andromeda was chained to a rock at the seashore as a sacrifice to make the monster go away. Perseus was homeward bound on the back of Pegasus after slaying the Gorgon Medusa when he chanced upon Andromeda’s plight. He rescued the princess by using Medusa’s head to turn the monster to stone, winning the day and the hand of a princess.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:44 and sunset will occur at 6:22, giving 10 hours, 38 minutes of daylight (7:47 and 6:29 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:53 and set at 6:11, giving 10 hours, 18 minutes of daylight (7:57 and 6:17 in Saint John).

The Moon is at first quarter around midnight on Saturday evening, which is International Observe the Moon Night. The Moon approaches Saturn on Monday, passes near Uranus on Wednesday, and next Saturday the full Hunter’s Moon approaches Jupiter. By midweek Saturn is at its best for observing around 9 pm, and telescope users might see Jupiter’s Red Spot around 11 pm Tuesday and 8:30 pm Friday. Rising before 4 am, Venus reaches greatest elongation from the Sun on Monday.

The Sunday Night Astronomy Show from Saint John and Hampton airs at 8 pm Sunday on the Facebook page and YouTube channel of Astronomy by the Bay.

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