Issue #970
Including:

From Russ

The Ontarion

Hi All,

Well now, here we are at this letter’s last issue of the year. I’d like to start by thanking Lauren, Kyra & Olivia for their contributions to last week’s letter. It made for a very special Christmas issue. And of course a big thanks to both Sus and Sue for their involvement, and to Russ and Greg for their continuing work. It wouldn’t be possible without them.

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December 21^st was when the ‘grand conjunction’ of Jupiter and Saturn took place. Up until then the two planets were slowly coming closer together from out visual perspective. Don’t let the term ‘close together’ fool you, they are very far apart but our angle of sight had them virtually lining up. Over the summer and into fall they moved steadily across the night sky from the east to the west, a tiny bit each night. Now, they are low in the south western sky at dusk. Thats where they were on the evening of the 21^st, so visually close together that they would have appeared to almost overlap. Problem was, we were heavily overcast and the conjunction could not be seen from anywhere around these parts. However, the next evening was crystal clear and we could see them. In that 24 hr period they had moved apart with Saturn now to the lower right of Jupiter instead of to the upper left. They still looked close to the naked eye, still being apart less that half the visual width of the moon. Through my scope they looked further although the angular separation was still that half-moon width.

Through the scope both resolved into wonderful objects. Jupiter’s 4 visible-to-us moons sparkled with 2 of them on one side and the other 2 out to the other side, standing out clearly against the background of space. Saturn’s rings were clear and on an angle that let them stand out nicely. I tried to get some pictures of this sky jewelry and manage to get some shots but said shots are of a fairly poor quality. Through my scope everything is clear but I don’t have a proper astronomy capable camera and must use my iPhone. To do so I simply try to get the phone camera lens lined up over the scope’s eye piece, a rather frustrating exercise. My phone’s camera does not do a very good job of taking night sky pictures as they end up very grainy and not at all clear, and I do a poor job of trying to hold the phone steady, but short of having the ‘right’ kind of equipment, it’s better than nothing. In this picture below, you can make out Jupiter’s 4 moons (Jupiter has over 50 moons but only these 4 can be seem via normal small scopes). Through my scope those moons are clear and crisp, sparkling like stars. In the picture, Saturn appears like an oblong blob but through the scope she is nicely resolved.

I’ve often thought about getting the right kind of camera for sky shots but it wouldn’t be worth it. Our horizon is too high due to the mountains and we are often overcast due to the ocean being so close. As well, we have neighbors who ignorantly leave their outdoor lights on just to bug everyone. And, just as importantly, I’d have no idea at all as to what would be a good night sky camera so I’ll just let that idea slide. Anyway, this picture is not very good but it takes up some space in this letter so there’s that.

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This week’s entertainment is brought to you by CCR, that southern rock band from a few decades ago. Back in pre-pandemic days when I had the occasional gig to play, I often started off with this song, called ‘Lodi’, although my version is rather laid back rather than ‘rock’. It’s about a band who has run out of luck and out of songs and out of steam and finds itself stranded in the small town of Lodi, California. It just seems to be a good fit for someone like me, sitting there behind my mic with my guitar, playing to a bunch of people who barley notice that there is entertainment happening. It’s also a fun song to do and tells a story. Songs that tell story's are what I like best, which is why I can’t stand modern music. Modern music, at least what you might here on a radio, is mostly just noise and a few stupid words loudly repeated over and over. Anyway, here’s my bare bones version of Lodi. Enjoy.

Lodi

doug

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From Russ

Blue Jays

The Weather Network lately reported that our ‘local’ Blue jay birds migrate semi-annually?? I thought they stayed with us year-round. It piqued my interest, so I looked into it. Truth is – some migrate, some don’t, and why is this? Scientists are not sure, but it probably has to do with availability of food, and the variation of weather conditions in their territory. Naturally, the blue jays that live in Labrador in summer, must fly south to a warmer climate in order to survive. No matter where one travels in US or Canada one will most likely find Blue jays. In the south they’re called “jaybirds”. Their ‘breeding range’ is spread across Canada from Labrador in the north-east to the Western provinces and some as far west as British Columbia.

We’re all familiar with Canada’s only Major League Baseball Club the Toronto Blue jays, but did you know the Blue jay is the “Provincial bird” of PEI? Not that anyone cares, but the Bluejay (one word) is the official mascot of two universities and a college in USA.

What follows are some interesting things about the ‘noisy’ Blue jays we see almost everywhere:

Males and females have the same markings and colour – one can’t tell them apart, except the male is larger.

They mate for life.(unlike some of us!)

The average life-span in the wild is about 7 years, but one lived for 17 and one-half years. In captivity some have lived for 26 years!

Both the male and the female take part in selecting and building their nest. They prefer to build their cup-shaped nests high in an evergreen tree, but they are not ‘picky’, and some have built nests in rural mailboxes even! The completed nest will usually contain 4-to-6 blueish, spotted eggs and she will brood for 16 – 18 days during which time he will feed her (bless his heart). When the young ones appear, both parents will take part in feeding the hungry little critters for about 17 – to 21 days before they “fledge”. The family travels and forages together until early fall, when the young birds disperse to avoid competition for food during the winter. Sexual maturity is reached after one year of age. (in my case it took about 6 years)

Blue jays will eat anything from ‘soup to nuts’, but they prefer seeds.

Here’s something I was surprised to learn – Blue jays are predatory and will kill smaller birds by ‘decapitation’! They will also raid the nests of songbirds, eating eggs or the young birds. But, they themselves become prey for hawks, raccoons, etc.

They are susceptible to West Nile virus, but despite local declines, over-all blue jays have not ben depleted by the disease.

We all know what blue jays look like, and are familiar with their normal calls, but did you know they can mimic chickadees, or scream like a gull, or sound like a “rusty pump”? They use their various ‘voices’ to alert others of an owl arriving for ‘dinner’, to attract a mate, or if something excites or frightens them. Their crest, which normally lies flat will raise as they become agitated.

An interesting colour chart appears in Wikipedia showing the many ‘subspecies’ of the Blue jay:

Northern blue jay = largest, found in Canada and northern US.

Coastal blue jay “ = mid-sized, found in Coastal USA from North Carolina to Texas, except southern Florida. Colour vivid blue.

Interior blue jay = mid-sized, dark blue. Found inland USA. And finally,

Florida bluejay (one word). The smallest of the subspecies. Found only in Florida? I also saw them in southern California.

We all know our Blue jays are noisy, bold and aggressive creatures. As a moderately slow flier = 32 to 40 Km/h when provoked, its easy prey for hawks and owls when it flies in open areas. Diverse predators may prey on the jay’s eggs and young up to their fledgling stage, including tree squirrels, snakes, cats, crows, raccoons, opossums, other jays and possibly many of the same birds of prey who attack adults.

This has always fascinated me; as with other blue-hued birds, the blue jay’s colouration is not derived from pigment but is the result of interference due to the internal structure of the feathers; if a blue feather is crushed, the blue disappears because the ‘structure’ is

destroyed!

And finally, in the 1966 Western film. The Shooting, the bluejay is cited as a sign of good luck!

By the time you read this, Christmas will be over for another year. Somehow it didn’t ‘feel’ like Christmas; no snow, no church, no Christmas dinner with family and friends. Not very merry – but, we must continue to fight this terrible virus that is killing many of us before our time. Stay safe until the next Squamidian which will be in 2021.

Uncle Russ.

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ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone

Its Christmas eve and Santa is well on his way around the globe I’m sure! If you’ve been dreaming of a white Christmas even parts of Ontario are out of luck this year. We managed to garner a little snow today but not even enough to bother shovelling! We’ve been told that we’re in for more rain tonight and possibly even a thunder storm over the late hours. I hope Santa has packed his rain suit for the trip he’s making tonight! LOL! There’s nothing less appealing than a the smell of a wet reindeer! Oh well, I guess that’s Santa’s problem isn’t it!

I don’t know if any of you will recall but I’ve recounted this story before. Oh well, here it goes again!

Many years ago when I was working out of head quarters station on another of the many Christmases I was scheduled for duty we had the alarm sound just after midnight. We had a report of a home that was filled with smoke. We responded to the location and found that their fireplace was the cause of the smoke backing up into the living room. Now, it wasn’t uncommon to have a blocked Chimney causing such a problem but the owner of the home was sure that we had a chimney fire on our hands since he hadn’t had his chimney cleaned in several years. So without hesitation we laddered the house and proceeded to climb onto the roof to extinguish the fire in the chimney. Once on the roof, we found that there was indeed something blocking the chimney. Unable to see what the obstruction was, we decided to lower a gaff hook into the dark chimney and try to remove the problem. We managed to hook onto the obstruction and began to haul it upward in the chimney. While pulling on the rope of the hook, we could hear a muffled sound resembling a babies cry coming from the flu of the structure. To our surprise, when the gaff reached the top of the flu, we had pulled a jolly little elf in a red velvet suit out of the chimney. With the wink of an eye, he turned to us and said “Way to go! You almost spoiled the surprise for this lovely family!” “Now if you don’t mind, can I please try to enter this home once again so I can get back to my rounds before the night is over?” We were happy to accommodate the wee fellow with a second attempt to complete his mission for that night and without further delay, we packed up our truck with ladders and our hoses and returned to the station for the rest of what turned out to be a quiet night! That particular event made believers out of the entire crew! Once word of that call spread through the department, every firefighter on WFD fought to be scheduled for duty each successive Christmas, in hopes that they’d catch a glimpse of the real St Nick in action! However, the event was not to be repeated! I guess Santa had learned a valuable lesson that night and has never again been stuck in a chimney! Well, I think it’s getting late and if I’m not tucked snugly into my bed by the time Santa arrives, he may not leave anything for me under my tree tonight! So, I’d better jump into bed and cover my head cause Santa Claus comes tonight!

That’s about it for tonight! I hope Santa was good to every one of our Squamidian members! And if nothing else, I sincerely hope he brought you all a happy and Healthy New Year to replace the disastrous one we’ve had for 2020!

All the best to our readers and I hope you enjoyed your Christmas Day!

Bye for now and thanks for tuning in on this festive weekend!

Sincere best wishes … Greg.

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