Nature Moncton Nature
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**Edmund Redfield and his Fort Folly group have not been able to monitor fish traps in the Petitcodiac River this past season due to funding cuts, but have been able to operate the monitoring nets the past few days. On Thursday, they had 12 striped bass, one gaspereau, 18 suckers, 5 perch, and 7 tomcod. The gaspereau was young-of-the-year. The striped bass were a mix: 8 young-of-the-year (8.8 cm to 10.7 cm), 3 two-year-olds (20.5 cm to 22.6 cm), and one three-plus-year-old (37.7 cm), whose photo is attached.
**Leon Gagnon is making the most of his last week on Miscou Island by doing some birdwatching.
Dark-eyed juncos, white-throated sparrows, and northern flickers have arrived in large numbers over the past few days.
Several warblers are still present: black-and-white, Blackpoll Warbler, and for the past two weeks, yellow-rumped warblers have been observed by the dozens every day.
Bald eagles have been observed daily for about ten days.
On Wednesday, he got photographs of a yellow-bellied flycatcher and an olive-sided flycatcher. (Unfortunately, those photos did not attach to Leon’s message.)
He also went to the Miscou
Lighthouse to try to spot pelagic birds, scanning the sea with his PowerShot
camera set at 120x magnification. He photographed some birds from very far
away, making them difficult to identify.
** Great white sharks are
becoming much more common off the Atlantic coast.
Nelson Poirier attended a
very informative session sponsored by Nature Saint John on Thursday night. Dr.
Chris Harvey-Clark, a veterinarian who has spent most of his practice career
working with sharks in general, and specifically great white sharks on the
Atlantic coast, delivered the presentation.
Chris shared more
information that can never be put into a paragraph but I will share a few
take-home thoughts.
After the movie Jaws was
produced many years ago, attitudes toward this shark were very negative, and a hunting
campaign ensued that brought them close to extinction. An act was passed to
stop the slaughter and attempts to reintroduce them were begun. That
reintroduction was very slow, as it takes many years for a new population to
mature and produce young. However, that time is now approaching, and the
species is gradually recovering.
Human encounters are
indeed rare, even though one occurred this week off the Gaspé.
This shark seeks out grey
seals, which have become overly abundant along the Atlantic coast and have
negatively affected other species such as Atlantic cod and Atlantic salmon.
Warming waters off the Atlantic coast are also a positive factor for the great
white shark.
The value of the great
white shark in the natural diversity of marine wildlife was emphasized, and why
that is the case.
**Pat Gibbs was surprised
to see a red squirrel eating a good chunk of moss recently. She never
knew they did that, and any comments from readers would be appreciated.
(Editor’s note: Some
reports might seem a little bizarre, but they are sometimes intriguing, and
readers are able to contribute to interpretation.)
**This Week’s Sky at a
Glance, 2026 September 19 – September 26
This is a good time of year to double your sky observing time. For the next
several weeks, before we return to Standard Time, the sky is dark and the stars
are blazing when most people are up to start their day, and it is not bitterly
cold or snowbound. Orion and his dogs are prominent to the south, with Taurus,
Auriga and Gemini arching over them. Sirius, Rigel, Procyon and Betelgeuse are
the first, seventh, eighth and tenth brightest stars in the night sky.
In early evening you can see the 4th, 5th and 6th brightest stars. Look for
yellow Arcturus sinking to the west, blue-white Vega overhead and Capella in
Auriga rising in the northeast. Capella is our brightest circumpolar star; it
never sets for most or all of New Brunswick. Later, notice the positions of the
circumpolar Big Dipper, Little Dipper and Cassiopeia. The next morning go
outside and see how they have changed. Sometimes it is nice to have a little
assurance that the world keeps right on turning.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:02 and sunset will occur at 7:22, giving
12 hours, 20 minutes of daylight (7:07 and 7:27 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 7:11 and set at 7:08, giving 11 hours, 57 minutes of
daylight (7:16 and 7:13 in Saint John). The Sun crosses the equator at 9:05 pm
Tuesday, heading south to start the autumnal season.
The Moon is in the waxing gibbous phase all week, culminating with the full
Harvest Moon next Saturday. Whereas the ecliptic makes a shallow angle with
the horizon in evening this time of year, the Moon and planets are low after
sunset. Mercury has a meet-up with Spica late in the week as it heads toward
Venus, with both planets setting barely a half hour after sunset next weekend.
Binoculars and an elevated view of a clear southwestern horizon are needed to
see them. Saturn rises around 8 pm this weekend, becoming a prime evening
target in telescopes. Mars lines up with Castor and Pollux in the morning
sky over the week, moving toward a beautiful conjunction with Jupiter in
mid-November. Try observing Jupiter with binoculars; how many of its four
big moons can you see?
The RASC NB Fall Star Fest takes place September 18-19 at Kouchibouguac
National Park. Tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm on the
Facebook page or YouTube site of Astronomy by the Bay.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
