NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
January 10, 2025
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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and proofreader Louise Nichols at Nicholsl@eastlink.ca if
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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols
**Daryl Doucette was
surprised to see a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk on prey in his neighbour's
urban Moncton birdfeeder yard. When he spotted it, he felt by the time he got
his better camera it would have left, so he captured a documentary still photo
and video with his cell phone. He was equally surprised to find the hawk did
not move away quickly at all, being very serious about protecting its prey as
Daryl approached to within 15 feet. A raven duo also arrived nearby and were interested in sharing the prey, but the hawk then mantled over the prey to
protect it from the ravens as well as Daryl! Daryl suspected the prey to be a
Rock Dove.
Take a look at Daryl's video at the link below.
(Editor’s note: It is more
uncommon for a Red-tailed Hawk to take prey from bird feeder yards, with the
Sharp-shinned Hawk and Cooper’s Hawk being more common.
Daryl’s documentary photos
do show Red-tailed Hawk field marks of a predominantly white breast with an indication
of the dark belly band, white scapular feathers showing on the mantle in a V
shape, and yellow eye, suggesting a juvenile bird.
Gilles Belliveau commented
he had heard reports of a Red-tailed Hawk staying in the vicinity of the
Mapleton Road exit off the TransCanada Highway. The bird feeder yard cited
today is only a short flight away, so chances are it may be the same individual.)
**With snow conditions in
some parts of the province not deep yet and temperatures not extremely cold, it
can make conditions ideal for impressions of wildlife tracks more apt to be
identifiable as to who was there.
Brian Donovan recently came
across tracks/trail of River Otter (s) that are very worthwhile studying
closely to recognize and know this animal is in the vicinity.
Expect to find them near a
water source. Note the rounded/broad crescent-shaped print with five toe pads
and look closely for some webbing between the toes. The width and length of the
track would be 2 inches plus. If there happens to be any slopes in the area, the River
Otter seems to enjoy sliding down to show that mark which would be further
evidence. Should a scat be deposited in the area, it would be 6 to 7 in. long
with an approximate 3/4 in. diameter.
Maybe more than you really
want to know, but these wildlife signs confirm identification!
**This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2025 January 11 – January 18
There is one river seen from New Brunswick that is completely ice-free all
winter, but we can only see it on clear nights. Eridanus the River, the fifth
largest constellation in area of the sky, has its head just off the foot of
Orion near Rigel. Even when it is at its highest in our sky, the river’s
meandering path takes it more than ten degrees below the horizon to where it
terminates at Achernar, the ninth brightest star.
Although we can’t see Achernar without travelling to Florida, there is a
notable star in Eridanus that we can see from outside a city. Omicron-2
Eridani, also called 40 Eridani or Keid (circled on the map), has a famous
fictional and fascinating planet: Vulcan, the home of Spock. Did you know that
there was once believed to be a planet closer to the Sun than Mercury? It was
named Vulcan after the Roman god of fire, metalworking and the forge. Anomalies
in Mercury’s orbit were thought to be due to an interior planet, and some astronomers
even claimed to have seen it crossing the Sun. The anomalies of Mercury’s orbit
were finally explained by some guy named Einstein in his General Theory of
Relativity. Coincidentally, regarding the god Vulcan, the constellation Fornax
the Furnace barely crests our horizon near Eridanus.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:59 and sunset will occur at 4:55, giving
8 hours, 56 minutes of daylight (8:01 and 5:03 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 7:55 and set at 5:04, giving 9 hours, 9 minutes of
daylight (7:57 and 5:12 in Saint John).
The Moon is full this Monday and on that evening it occults Mars for 60 to
70 minutes. The planet will slowly disappear behind the Moon around 10:35, but
I recommend using binoculars or a telescope starting much sooner as times will
vary with location. Without optical aid you will probably lose sight of
Mars in the bright moonlight well before the occultation begins. Mars is
closest to Earth on Sunday and it reaches opposition on Wednesday, at which
time it will make a scenic line with Pollux and Castor, the Twins of Gemini.
Meanwhile, Venus moves to within a binocular view of Saturn this weekend, and
over the week it will slide past the ringed planet to the right. On Wednesday
evening telescope users might see Jupiter’s moon Europa disappear behind the planet
at 5:55 and reappear from eclipse at 10:22, and maybe see the Red Spot for two
hours centred around 7:15 pm. Mercury rises an hour before sunrise this
weekend, and that shortens to 40 minutes by next weekend.
The Fredericton Astronomy Club meets in the UNB Forestry-Earth Sciences
building at 7 pm on Tuesday. 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.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
