March 6 2026

           

             NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

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.

 

Clicking on the photos enlarges them for closer observation.

 

 

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

 

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**Yvette Richard has had a pair of pine grosbeaks that have been at her feeders daily for the past 6 days. They have beautiful colors. They are very skittish.

The common redpoll was Yvette’s first of-season visitor that she had seen in her Cocagne yard. She comments, “they are rare at her place, so nice to see."

 

 **Jim Johnson and some friends went to the Parlee Brook Ice Falls (amphitheater) on Tuesday to see how it looked this year. Jim didn’t think there was as much ice due to more snow recently, but still very impressive. It's in back of Sussex Corner and at the very end of Parlee Brook Road, from there about 6 or 7 kms in and out. Crampons are a must, but well worth the effort. It is well described online at NBtrail maps.

Jim shares a few photos of the visit.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2026 March 7 – March 14
I regard Leo the Lion as the signature constellation of spring, and it is not difficult to picture a lion in its distinctive pair of asterisms. A backwards question mark or a sickle represents its chest and mane, anchored by the bright star Regulus at its heart or front leg. To the east a triangle of stars forms the back leg and tail. Originally, a faint naked-eye cluster of stars represented a tuft at the end of the tail, but that now makes the tresses of the constellation Coma Berenices.

In mythology the lion was a vicious creature that resided in the mountains of Nemea. Its hide was impenetrable to spears or arrows; the only thing sharp enough to penetrate the lion’s hide was its claws. The first of Hercules’s twelve Labours was to kill this creature, which the legendary strongman did by strangulation. He then used the claws to cut off the lion’s hide for use as a shield. A friend of mine sees this constellation as a mouse, with the triangle as its head and the sickle as its tail. However, legends are not made by having a muscular demigod battle a mouse.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:46 and sunset will occur at 6:14, giving 11 hours, 28 minutes of daylight (6:51 and 6:19 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:33 and set at 7:23, giving 11 hours, 50 minutes of daylight (7:38 and 7:28 in Saint John). Daylight time begins this Sunday at 2 am.

The Moon is near Antares Tuesday morning and it is at third quarter Wednesday. This weekend Venus will be passing closely to the right of Saturn as they head in opposite directions. Jupiter reaches its second stationary point on Tuesday, after which it resumes eastward motion relative to the stars. On Monday evening telescope and perhaps binocular users might see its moons Io and Callisto reappear from the planet’s shadow at 9:12 and 9:37, respectively. Mercury is at inferior conjunction this Saturday, moving into a difficult morning apparition for observing later in the month. Mars is too close to the Sun for viewing. Rural observers might see the subtle wedge of zodiacal light reaching toward the Pleiades 60 to 90 minutes after sunset.

The Saint John Astronomy Club meets in the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre on March 7 at 7 pm. Tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm on the YouTube channel and Facebook page of Astronomy by the Bay. The Fredericton Astronomy Club meets in the UNB Forestry-Earth Sciences building on Tuesday at 7pm.

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

  nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

   Nelson Poirier

    Nature Moncton

COMMON REDPOLL (MALE). YVETTE RICHARD. MAR 05, 2026


PINE GROSBEAK (FEMALE). YVETTE RICHARD, MAR 05, 2026


PINE GROSBEAK (MALE). YVETTE RICHARD, MAR 05, 2026


PINE GROSBEAK (FEMALE). YVETTE RICHARD, MAR 05, 2026


PARLEE BROOK ICE FALLS. MARCH 4, 2026.  JIM JOHNSON


PARLEE BROOK ICE FALLS. MARCH 4, 2026.  JIM JOHNSON


PARLEE BROOK ICE FALLS. MARCH 4, 2026.  JIM JOHNSON


Leo_2026