NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
May 17,
2024
Nature
Moncton members as well as any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond are
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The live feed to the
Peregrine Falcon nest box camera can be accessed at https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam
**Naturalists
are reporting what would appear to be more Gray Catbirds than usual. This
species is not uncommon, but they are often secretive and heard more than seen.
Norbert
Dupuis photographed a cooperative Gray Catbird on Thursday. If one looks
closely, the not-often-seen chestnut undertail covert can be detected.
**Shannon Inman spotted a Brown Thrasher in their
Harvey yard and got a quick clear photo before something spooked it. They have
noted a few Cedar Waxwings going through the yard as well and captured a photo of one.
**There is a pair of Merlins that Brian Coyle has
witnessed mating several times in his backyard, and they seem to be nesting in
the backyard of his next-door neighbour's. They are fiercely defending the air
space, putting the run to Ravens and Crows alike.
**Jane
LeBlanc checked out her favourite warbler spot Thursday morning and found
several species, including a Nashville Warbler. Just down the road, she
found a cooperative Hermit Thrush.
**Fred Dube
erected six freshly minted Nature Moncton bird nest boxes around the fishpond of
Elden Cormier, who is also a freshly minted new member. The location from Fred’s
photos looks ideal to please potential summer patrons.
**Don Lutes
owns a stand of 135 acres of mixed forest in the Cambridge Narrows area with
many species of trees, ponds, and a gravel road that goes back to the property.
He watches
the wildlife that call the area home closely and has been able to tally a very
diverse population of wildlife.
The Fisher is an uncommon mammal in
southern New Brunswick and Don was able to capture a video of one in September
of 2023. The video link below shows one animal, but he knows
there is an assumed pair present as he has seen two at one time. The Fishers seem to
favour an area of approximately 10 acres of pine trees.
Check the
video link below to see one fisher on its mission.
**On Tuesday Brian Stone was downtown in Moncton and he
found a few minutes to walk along the riverfront trail and photographed a Cabbage
White Butterfly and a male Yellow Warbler. Further along the trail,
he stopped at a pond near the new bridge to look for pond dwellers. He saw a Mallard
Duck family with 7 ducklings and on the far side of the pond, he got
some distant photos of a Spotted Sandpiper and a Swamp Sparrow.
While he was looking at the sandpiper Brian heard both
a Sora and a Virginia Rail vocalizing and they seemed to be
getting closer. A few moments later both birds met up on the far side of the
pond from Brian and began a noisy scuffle that lasted only about one minute
before they parted ways. Obviously, they were not happy about sharing
territories.
**The day
of the week has arrived to review what we may see in next week’s night sky
courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason.
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 May 18 – May 25
By 10 pm the zigzag constellation of Draco the Dragon is halfway up the
northern sky to the right of the Little Dipper. Draco’s tail is a line of stars
between the Big and Little Dippers. One of those stars is Thuban, which lies
between the bowl of the Little Dipper and the middle of the Big Dipper’s
handle. About 5000 years ago, when the Egyptian pyramids were built, Thuban was
the North Star and entrances to the pyramids were designed with a descending
passageway aligned to this star. Coincidentally, the inner two stars of
the Big Dipper’s bowl point to Thuban, just as the outer pair points toward
Polaris.
From the tail, Draco arcs around the bowl of the Little Dipper and then curves
back toward Hercules, with its head being a quadrilateral of stars by the
strongman’s foot. The two brightest stars in Draco’s head, Eltanin and
Rastaban, are its eyes. They are the brightest and third brightest of the
constellation. The faintest of the four is a treat in binoculars, showing
matching white stars that resemble headlights or cat eyes. In mythology the
dragon was one of the Titans, rivals of the Olympians. In one of their battles,
Athena slung the dragon high into the northern sky. Writhing to right itself,
it struck against the northern sky and froze in that position.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 5:42 and sunset will occur at 8:49, giving
15 hours, 7 minutes of daylight (5:50 and 8:51 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 5:36 and set at 8:56, giving 15 hours, 20 minutes of
daylight (5:44 and 8:58 in Saint John).
The Moon is full and rises just to the right of Antares in Scorpius before 10
pm on Thursday. Over the next couple of hours it slides below that red
supergiant star. Mars sits 10 degrees above the eastern horizon at 5 am this
weekend, with Saturn a hand span to its upper right. Mercury is rising around
that time all week, 40-45 minutes before sunrise. Jupiter is in solar
conjunction this Saturday, International Astronomy Day, and it has a close
conjunction with Venus on Thursday but they are too close to the Sun to be
seen. Astrophotographers might want to try for comet P12/Olbers near the M36
star cluster in Auriga on Tuesday.
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.
Nature Moncton
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