Nature Moncton Nature News: May 24 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

May 24, 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 both the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com and the proofreader nicholsl@eastlink.ca 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 live feed to the Peregrine Falcon nest box camera can be accessed at https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam

**The Nature Moncton Warbler Walk is happening tomorrow Saturday, May 25, with the write-up below:

Nature Moncton invites you to a warbler walk on May 25, 2024 starting from 9:00 a.m. until around 1:00 p.m.. We will begin from the parking lot of the Haut-du-Ruisseau Nature Park in Memramcook. Last year we had a Wednesday Walk here and it was quite enjoyable with lots of small birds. The trails are well maintained with a few hills. The environment is varied with woodland, open fields and a beautiful creek with a wide flood plain. All in all, it is a very good habitat for birding. Rain or shine, all are welcome, Nature Moncton member or not. The park is located at the corner of Breau Creek Road and Palmer Road. The map below shows the route to the park from Home Hardware in Memramcook.

For those of you who enjoy taking photos, save your best photos of warblers or any other nature shots you take throughout the morning. Put a selection of your photos on a USB drive and bring it to the Nature Moncton June BBQ. After we feast on hamburgers and socialize, we will invite anyone with photos from the warbler outing to share them with the group. It's a great way to remember the highlights of the outing and to learn from each other's observations.

**Evar Simon shares some recent visitors to his home in Lutes Mountain, including Honeybees, a Brown-headed Cowbird, and a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.

(Editor’s note: what an excellent photo to show the genders of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak side-by-side!)

**Hopefully, we will start having visits from Monarch Butterflies in later June onwards looking for milkweed plants on which to lay their eggs.

Glen Nichols has some Swamp Milkweed (in pots) to give away if anyone wants it. He has maybe around a dozen or so. So if people want the milkweed they may have to pick it up at Glen’s home in Aulac, or possibly, he could drop it off at Nelson Poirier’s place next week in Moncton and they could pick it up there which would be more central.

If interested, touch base with Glen at glennichols@eastlink.ca

**Christine Lever recently shared some bird activity she experienced on a trip to the UK. Christine’s thoughts and sightings are interesting and I am again going to share them verbatim:

“I should explain about the coots and their behaviour when they think that their babies are in danger. The Mute Swans had 8 cygnets. If the swans were with their cygnets and they approached the coots and their cootlings (the term for baby coots) there was no sign from the coots of chasing them away. It seems that they recognized that the swans are, like them, parents just trying to get through the day! For what it's worth, I found that interesting.

I have also discovered that coots are not related to ducks but to cranes!

Annoying human behaviour that I witnessed time and time again -- People would go to the canal and throw bread, popcorn and candies (?) in for the birds. Human food is not good for the birds to eat. I did try to explain why it's not a good idea to feed birds bread but, as you can imagine, that went over like a lead balloon. Also not a good idea to throw garbage in the water but that doesn't seem to stop people doing it, either.

Birds that I didn't photograph as they were far too fast to capture on a phone camera: terns, parakeets (let loose by careless people and now thriving across the UK) with long tails and feathers that are the green of spring foliage, numerous Blue Tits, Great Tits and an array of small colourful birds that I couldn't identify.

Photos: Mute Swans with cygnets (as they mate for life, people that live on or near the canal say it's the same couple that have lived there for years); Wagtail (black and white bird sitting on the side of the canal) which, as the name implies, constantly wags its tail up and down whenever it seems to land (related to water pipits). There doesn't seem to be a satisfactory explanation for this behaviour. There is also a photo of a Greylag Goose, common in the UK and an occasional visitor to New Brunswick.”

**Jane and Ed LeBlanc had a bit of a situation on their hands when walking their dog in the woods on their property. They came across a Porcupine, and between the dog hesitating a little bit, and the Porcupine heading for the nearest tree, injuries were avoided all around.

Later in the day, Jane managed to find several warblers along her driveway, including Black-and-White Warbler, Canada Warbler, and a Black-throated Green Warbler, which stopped for photos. A Red-eyed vireo was seen briefly as well.

**Early on Thursday morning, Brian Stone went to Irishtown Park and walked along the back trail that leads out into the woods. He was hoping to find some interesting subjects but was surprised to find more than he expected. He couldn't finish processing his images in one night so he sent the birds first, and his favorite a garter snake, and the rest will come tomorrow.

Brian saw and heard many more warblers and other birds than he expected, with a couple unexpected ones that he was very happy to come across. He found a Black-throated Green Warbler collecting nesting material, a male Common Yellowthroat, a Black and White Warbler, and he photographed one of several Alder Flycatchers that were sounding off alongside the trail. Brian's two best birds of the day were a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and a Canada Warbler. Both were in the same spot near the end of the trail at a large pond. Birds that avoided the camera were Chestnut-sided Warbler, Palm Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Northern Parula, Magnolia Warbler, and Ovenbird.

A fascinating encounter happened while Brian was walking slowly along the trail with his eyes down looking for dragonflies and butterflies. He stopped for a moment and looked up and was surprised to be eye to eye with an adult Garter Snake that was gliding down the trail directly towards him. The snake looked up and froze in place, seemingly surprised by the encounter, as did Brian. After a minute Brian slowly raised the camera and began taking pictures while the snake stayed frozen as if trying to become invisible by not moving. Brian managed to walk a circle around the snake, taking photos and even moved in for a few close-ups as the snake continued to ignore him. After a few more minutes of this, the snake finally decided it had had enough of this attention and slowly slid off the path and disappeared into the grass.

Brian also sends a photo of a Merlin that perched on top of a tree at the rear of his yard at home for a few minutes in the early morning, just long enough to get a few dim-light photos taken.

**With nights starting to warm up, the moths are starting to be more active at night.

Nelson Poirier had a visit from a few Two-lined Hook-tip Moths (Filaria lacertinaria) Wednesday night. These are medium-sized moths and their unusual resting posture resembling a dried leaf is an interesting clue to their identity

**Friday has arrived and our day to check in with sky guru Curt Nason for a preview of what we may expect to see in next week’s night sky.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 May 25 – June 1
When Charley Pride sang “Snakes Crawl at Night” he wasn’t talking about the constellations, but he might as well have been. When twilight gives way to darkness there are two snakes stretching nearly halfway across the sky. The first is Hydra the female water snake, which is also the largest constellation. It is so long it takes eight hours to rise completely. At 11 pm these evenings it stretches along the horizon with its head in the west and its tail to the south. In this position the snake takes only three hours to nestle underground

Almost as long but more U-shaped is Serpens, the only constellation that is in two parts, separated by Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer. The western half is called Serpens Caput, the head of the snake, and the eastern half is the tail, Serpens Cauda. Ophiuchus represents Asclepius, a son of Apollo, who learned the healing arts by watching a snake bring another back to life. The Rod of Asclepius, a snake entwined around a staff, is the symbol of medicine and health.

If you like things in threes you can look at serpentine Draco as a snake instead of a dragon. Its tail begins above the bowl of the Big Dipper, with the body curling around the Little Dipper before arcing back toward the foot of Hercules. If that doesn’t suit you then you can go Down Under to see Hydrus the male water snake slithering around the south celestial pole.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 5:36 and sunset will occur at 8:56, giving 15 hours, 20 minutes of daylight (5:44 and 8:58 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 5:31 and set at 9:03, giving 15 hours, 32 minutes of daylight (5:39 and 9:05 in Saint John).

The Moon is at third quarter on Thursday and near Saturn Friday morning. This week all seven planets are lined up from east to southeast in the morning sky, but don’t expect to see many of them. This weekend Venus rises just five minutes before the Sun and by next weekend they rise together. Jupiter precedes the Sun by ten minutes but that stretches to 27 over the week. Mercury beats the Sun by 45-40 minutes while brightening and passing Uranus. Mars and Saturn are up two and three hours before the Sun, respectively, with dim Neptune 1/3 of the way between them from Saturn. Early risers could probably see Mars and Saturn unaided before 4:30 but getting Neptune would be difficult with a manual (as opposed to a computerized) telescope. The others rise in civil twilight but seeing Mercury might be possible with large binoculars.

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.