Nature Moncton Nature News: February 23 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

February 23, 2024

Nature Moncton members as well as any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond are invited to share their photos and descriptions of recent nature sightings to build a fresh (almost) daily edition of Nature News

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .

Please advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**The popular annual birdfeeder tour event outing will take place tomorrow Saturday, February 24. Details below:

**Nature Moncton Birdfeeder Tour

Saturday, February 24

8:45 AM until it’s over.

The very popular annual birdfeeder tour will take place this coming Saturday, February 24.

Participants are asked to gather at the northeast corner of the Coliseum parking lot at 8:30 AM for departure at 8:45 a.m. via carpooling if possible for the home of Jean Renton where homemade baked beans, bacon, and sausage will be waiting, and no doubt lots more goodies as participants are asked to bring along a small contribution as able for the menu. Jean’s yard is always a hotspot for birds partaking of their seed menu.

After food, socialization, and birds, participants will move on to several other feeder yards in the Riverview area to Weldon as whistle stops.

The last stop of the day will be at Nelson Poirier’s where more food, socialization, and hopefully birds will be waiting.

Jean Renton’s physical address is 460 Gorge Rd. going past Moncton Crushed Stone facility and rounding the corner at the Stilesville Church.

A sheet will be given out at Jean’s with the physical addresses of the sites to be visited over the day and telephone contact can be made at 506-866-2752 any time during the day for late joiners or to find out where the group may be at any time.

All birds are welcome!

Late PS: The weather may not be looking great for people but could be good for birds at feeders and not enough to stop people travel. Look forward to seeing everyone despite a little hiccup!

** The chips were flying in Norbert Dupuis’ Memramcook East yard on Thursday when a male Downy Woodpecker decided a tree was ripe for recycling and lunch.

**Judy Cairns has been hosting a beautiful Northern Mockingbird at her backyard feeders (Moncton). It was a regular visitor and was spotted almost every hour. Sadly, late afternoon on Tuesday of this week, Judy noticed feathers floating from the sky but saw nothing. She attended the Nature Moncton meeting that evening and upon arriving home found a pool of blood in her driveway with small white feathers attached. Judy subsequently did a thorough inspection and found many scattered feathers, some of which she collected, all consistent with the mockingbird. Judy has not spotted the bird since.

(Editor’s note: this is very sad to hear as there has been a small population of the Northern Mockingbird in Moncton for several years and the loss of one is significant. The Northern Mockingbird is known to guard its winter cache with gusto and chase away any suspected interlopers which of course would not go well if that happened to be a Cooper’s Hawk.
Four years ago, we had several Northern mockingbirds in the Jones Lake area. Louise Richard had a faithful one and Nelson Poirier had 3 commandeering a peanut butter feeder in his feeder yard. The next winter all disappeared and were not seen.
The Northern Mockingbirds we have do not migrate and stay with us all winter. Let’s hope there is a nidus of individuals somewhere that can either move in or surface and have a presence again in the Moncton area.)

**Two photos of lichen which Brian Stone and Nelson Poirier noted on rocks by a waterfall when visiting the family of Norbert Dupuis back in December are attached today. They are the Dust Lichen and the Pore lichen, both of which we had not noted before.

On the Pore Lichen, one will note black spots which are associated with an embedded fruiting body producing large spores.

**It’s Friday and our day to peer into next week’s night sky to see what interesting things we may see as reported below, courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason:

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 February 24 – March 2
Do you hear the wind? According to the weather proverb, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, referring to roaring winds early in the month and calmer days leading into April. As twilight ends this week, look off to the east for a group of stars forming a sickle and leading a large triangle of stars. This combination is the constellation of Leo the Lion entering the sky as it did a few centuries ago, when the saying supposedly originated.

Now look to the west for a bent line of three stars west of the Pleiades star cluster. That is Aries the Ram, which could still be a lamb at heart. By the end of the month the annual march of constellations has Aries about to leave the sky as twilight ends. Our fickle weather won’t always follow the proverb but the constellations will continue to play it out for several generations to come.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:07 and sunset will occur at 5:57, giving 10 hours, 50 minutes of daylight (7:11 and 6:03 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 6:55 and set at 6:07, giving 11 hours, 12 minutes of daylight (6:59 and 6:13 in Saint John).

The Moon is full and one day from apogee this Saturday, giving us the Puny Moon for 2024. Don’t worry, you will be able to see it if the sky is mostly clear. The waning gibbous Moon will be seen near Spica on Wednesday morning. Wednesday is also conjunction day, with Mercury and Saturn slipping behind the Sun from opposite directions. Next Friday telescope users might catch Jupiter’s moon Io emerge from its shadow at 7:07 pm, and Europa disappear behind the planet at 8:44. Venus and Mars cross paths this weekend, rising an hour before sunrise, with Mars about half a binocular view to the right of Venus. Beginning Monday we have a two-week opportunity to see the subtle zodiacal light, which is caused by sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust along the ecliptic. You will need a clear and dark sky to see this triangular glow reaching up from the western horizon toward the Pleiades.

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. The Saint John Astronomy Club meets in the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre at 7 pm on March 2.

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