Nature Moncton Nature News: October 11 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

October 11, 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

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Thursday night’s spectacular Northern Light display gets top billing upfront in today’s report. What a show!!!!

**On Thursday evening Brian Stone checked the Aurora forecast on the Space Weather site and was thrilled to see notification of an intense Aurora in progress! He stepped outside to check for clouds and saw the display happening above him even in town on Mountain Rd. He didn't risk taking the time to get dressed and go out to a dark site or even set up his DSLR camera as this type of display can fade quickly so he just pulled out his cell phone, set the camera to "night sight" which gives a time exposure setting, and took pictures until the Aurora faded. It continued at a dimmer level the rest of the night and Brian occasionally went back out to check on its progress.

**Jane and Ed LeBlanc saw the Northern Lights right from their yard in St. Martins for the first time. The lights were almost directly overhead, so the fact they were surrounded by trees didn't make a big difference. They were also visible to the naked eye, which is not always the case.

**Nelson Poirier was able to see the stunning Northern light show from his Miramichi camp yard with little nearby distracting lights to make for a show he had never witnessed before. In the 8 PM time area, the predominantly red and some green flaring seem to be coming from a point mid-sky to make the show nothing short of spectacular before the whole sky seemed to go a homogeneous red.

One can only speculate what folks thought when seeing a spectacle like this before the days it was realized what really was happening.

**Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins still has numerous species coming to her suet feeder, including Canada Jay, Blue Jay, Downy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Thursday, a Yellow-rumped Warbler. She remembers several years ago, she had A Yellow-rumped Warbler stay most of the winter. She also had several White-throated Sparrows below the feeder, taking leftovers.

**Leon Gagnon sends a few photos of action on Miscou Island from the last few days before he leaves his cottage for the winter.

He visited La Malbaie South lagoon on Wednesday to note many shorebirds and waterfowl. They were too distant to photograph, but the blazing fall red of the Huckleberry plants stood out. Leon took note of one larger shorebird that he was able to get documentary photos of, and it turned out to be a juvenile Hudsonian Godwit.

Leon also comments he noted five individual juvenile Bald Eagles on Thursday that seemed to be taking advantage of a west wind.

**As her garden winds down for the year, Barbara Smith noticed a bumblebee clinging to a spent flower from an obedient plant.

It's a reminder that dead and dying plants still hold tremendous value for the insects that shelter under them during the winter. So if we are worried about insects and habitat loss, perhaps we should do as the Nature Conservancy of Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Service, and others suggest, and not cut back our flowers and plants, or rake our leaves, until the spring.

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has written an excellent post about why we should "Leave the Leaves." As they say, they're habitat, not trash. You can read the full post at the link below:

https://xerces.org/blog/leave-the-leaves

**Suzanne Rousseau had a duo of adult White-tailed Deer checking her Sussex yard while they cooperatively stood for photographs.

(Editor’s note: White-tailed Deer seem to have chosen St. Andrews, Quispamsis, and the Sussex area to become urban wildlife.)

**This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 October 12 – October 19
With the Square of Pegasus appearing higher in the east after twilight, look under it (or outside the first base line of the diamond) for a circle of fainter stars. This asterism is the Circlet of Pisces which forms the head of one of the two fish that make up this zodiac constellation. The other fish head is to the left of Pegasus. Below left of the Circlet is the Vernal Equinox, the point where the Sun crosses the equator to mark the beginning of our spring season. At times it is still called the First Point of Aries, despite having moved well to the west of the zodiacal ram.

The two fish represent Aphrodite and her son Eros, who tied their ankles together with a cord before leaping into the sea and changing into fish to escape the fearsome monster Typhon. The star where the fishes’ tails meet is called Alrescha, which means “the cord.”

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:32 and sunset will occur at 6:37, giving 11 hours, 5 minutes of daylight (7:37 and 6:43 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:42 and set at 6:24, giving 10 hours, 42 minutes of daylight (7:46 and 6:31 in Saint John).

The Moon is near Saturn on Monday evening and it is full and at perigee on Thursday, the closest full Moon of the year. Be prepared for extreme tides heading into next weekend. Venus shines brightly low in the southeast in the early evening, and it will be joined by comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS to its right this weekend when it is closest to Earth. Over the week the comet will be moving to the upper left and by next weekend it will high above Venus. On Tuesday it will be within a binocular view of M5, a dense globular cluster in the constellation Serpens the Serpent. Saturn is at its highest and best for observing in late evening. Jupiter will be rising around 9:30 midweek, and next Friday telescope users might catch its Red Spot transiting at 10 pm. Reddish Mars can be seen rising in the middle of Gemini around 11:30.

Tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm on the YouTube channel and Facebook page of Astronomy by the Bay.

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