Nature Moncton Nature News: May 3 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

May 3, 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.

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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

** Dale Pugh reports the migrating birds are arriving in Irishtown Nature Park and filling the trails with song. The ones Dale was able to capture with pleasant photos were the Blue-headed Vireo, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Eastern Phoebe.
Dale could not capture a photo of the loud vocalizing Ruby-crowned Kinglet but she has it in her sights!

**John Inman was a bit surprised to see his resident Raccoon up the Aspen trees eating both the catkins and buds.

Shannon Inman photographed the early emerging colourful caterpillar of the Virginia Ctenucha moth and also came across a Porcupine enjoying the freshly emerged green grass.

**Many folks are enjoying the arrival of White-throated Sparrows in significant numbers, often stopping around birdfeeder yards for initial refueling as they arrive.
Lance Harris in Dieppe is enjoying the arrival of the species to his yard.

** Brian and Annette Stone checked out Highland Park in Salisbury on Wednesday (May 01, "May Day") and Brian sent a few photos to celebrate the first day of May. In the ponds, the resident American Coot was seen but managed to avoid being photographed, and a Sora was heard calling but hid very well in the reeds and grasses and was too shy to come out. Pied-billed Grebes were preparing to begin their reproductive cycle as some of them were seen either mating or fighting, hard to tell which sometimes!

A pair of Belted Kingfishers were very vocally flying over and around the ponds but did not take a break to perch and pose. Wood Duck and Blue-winged Teal duck pairs were swimming around the small quiet pond on the other side of the path from the big ponds. Common Grackles were present in large numbers and were the noisiest pond patrons by far. Male Red-winged Blackbirds were photographed but no females were seen.

Yellow-rumped Warblers were hawking insects out over the water from trailside tree perches and both males and females were present. Many Savannah Sparrows were around the edges of the ponds foraging in the dry reeds and grasses, and Brian found two patches of the toxic Bloodroot plant with flowers open for the daylight hours.

(Editor’s note: as Brian points out, bloodroot is reported as toxic in some literature and it is generally suggested not to handle this plant even though some literature suggests it has been used for medical purposes. It can produce skin rash in sensitive individuals. It's therefore possibly best to enjoy its beauty but let it be.)

**Nelson Poirier has suddenly noted the arrival of a flock of Pine Siskins to his camp feeder area. They didn’t appear in significant numbers at feeders during the winter, assumedly due to the availability of wild food during the temperate winter we experienced. Only the Pine Siskins know why they suddenly show up now!
A photo of one shows the heavy dark streaking, and muted yellow streaking on some wing feathers, as well as the small forcep-like beak.
Nelson also includes a photo of a male Hairy Woodpecker enjoying bird pie which he has had to hang inside the deck pole to keep crows from gobbling it within minutes.

**Several years ago, Nelson Poirier was in the yard of Anne Marsch and was awestruck by the incredible number of bees and other pollen-seeking insects in a large Korean Willow tree with possibly thousands of male pollen-producing catkins.
Anne gave Nelson a few saplings of the tree to plant in his camp yard. On Thursday, the sapling that had rooted was ablaze with the huge catkins.
Anne was an excellent gardener, nature lover, and active participant with Nature Moncton. Anne has passed away, but her tree gives fond memories of her every spring.

**Friday has arrived on schedule and our day to have sky guru Curt Nason let us in on what next week’s night sky will have for us to watch for.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 May 4 – May 11
In the second century BCE the Greek astronomer Hipparchus of Nicaea ranked the stars according to their brightness in six categories called magnitudes (for greatness). The 20 brightest stars were rated first magnitude and the faintest stars were sixth magnitude. This system was retained for two millennia and standardized in the 19th century when much fainter stars were being detected by telescopes and astrophotography. English astronomer Norman Pogson devised a logarithmic system whereby five magnitudes was a difference in star brightness of exactly 100 times. With this system, a magnitude 1 star is about 2.5 times brighter than a magnitude 2 star, and that one is 2.5 times brighter than a star of magnitude 3.

For many of us, the faintest star we can detect with the naked eye in a dark sky is sixth magnitude (commonly called mag 6). Vega, the fifth brightest star, is mag 0, slightly dimmer than Arcturus and slightly brighter than Capella. With the ability to measure the exact brightness of stars, their magnitudes are often recorded to one or two decimal places, and negative values are used for very bright objects. Sirius is mag -1.4; Jupiter is usually around mag -2.4 and Venus around -4.5. The full Moon is mag -12.6, approximately 400,000 times fainter than the Sun at -26.7. A first magnitude star, of which there are 22, is brighter than mag 1.50; a second magnitude star shines from mag 1.50 to 2.49, and so on.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:00 and sunset will occur at 8:32, giving 14 hours, 32 minutes of daylight (6:07 and 8:34 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 5:51 and set at 8:40, giving 14 hours, 49 minutes of daylight (5:58 and 8:43 in Saint John).

The Moon separates Saturn and Mars on Saturday morning; it is near Mars on Sunday and Mercury on Monday. New Moon occurs just past midnight on Wednesday. Mercury gets brighter over the month and it reaches greatest elongation on Thursday. Jupiter is two weeks from conjunction and is getting lost in evening twilight. Early risers this weekend might catch several meteors from the Delta Aquariid shower rising from the southeast.

The Saint John Astronomy Club meets in the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre at 7 pm this Saturday. 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.