Laura and I went to Peggy's Cove to photograph the supermoon rising. As usual the horizon was obscured by a cloud bank so we couldn't see the Supermoon until it was higher in the sky.

The Blue Supermoon will present itself later this month so hopefully we can try again.

A Supermoon by definition is when it is closest to earth and appears larger, about 18%. A Blue Moon is the second full moon in a month.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

This article is about an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year. For other uses, see Blue Moon (disambiguation).

A blue moon is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year: the third of four full moons in a season.

The phrase in modern usage has nothing to do with the actual color of the Moon, although a visually blue Moon (the Moon appearing with a bluish tinge) may occur under certain atmospheric conditions—for instance, if volcanic eruptions or fires release particles in the atmosphere of just the right size to preferentially scatter red light.^[1]

Definition

The term has traditionally, in the Maine Farmer's Almanac, referred to an "extra" full moon, where a year which usually has 12 full moons has 13 instead. The "blue moon" reference is applied to the third full moon in a season with four full moons,^[2] thus correcting the timing of the last month of a season that would have otherwise been expected too early. This happens every two to three years (seven times in the Metonic cycle of 19 years).^[3] The author of a March 1946 article in Sky & Telescope attempted to decipher the traditional practice of the editors of the Maine Farmers' Almanac by examining old issues of the almanac. Without enough almanacs to see the correct pattern, he conjectured the wrong rule for 'blue moons', which led to the modern colloquial misunderstanding that a blue moon is a second full moon in a single solar calendar month, with no link to the order it occurs in a season. The phrase "once in a blue moon" is also used idiomatically, which means once after a long time. An example in a sentence: "My sister lives in Alaska, so I only see her once in a blue moon."^[4]

Owing to the rarity of a blue moon, the term "blue moon" is used colloquially to mean a rare event, as in the phrase "once in a blue moon".^[5][6]

One lunation (an average lunar cycle) is 29.53 days. There are about 365.24 days in a tropical year. Therefore, about 12.37 lunations (365.24 days divided by 29.53 days) occur in a tropical year. In the widely used Gregorian calendar, there are 12 months (the word month is derived from moon^[7]) in a year, and normally there is one full moon each month, with the date of the full moon falling back by nearly one day every calendar month. Each calendar year contains roughly 11 days more than the number of days in 12 lunar cycles. The extra days accumulate, so every two or three years (seven times in the 19 year Metonic cycle), there is an extra full moon in the year. The extra full moon necessarily falls in one of the four seasons, giving that season four full moons instead of the usual three, and, hence, a "blue" moon.

• Folklore named each of the 12 full moons in a year according to its time of year. The occasional 13th full moon that came too early for its season was called a "blue moon", so the rest of the moons that year retained their customary seasonal names.^{[citation needed]}
• The Maine Farmers' Almanac called the third full moon in a season that had four the "blue moon".^[2]
• The frequency of a blue moon can be calculated as follows: It is the period of time it would take for an extra synodic orbit of the moon to occur in a year. Given that a year is approximately 365.2425 days and a synodic orbit is 29.5309 days,^[8] then there are about 12.368 synodic months in a year. For this to add up to another full month would take 1/0.368 years. Thus it would take about 2.716 years, or 2 years, 8 months, and 18 days for another blue moon to occur.
• Using the common 1946 Sky & Telescope misunderstanding, when one calendar month has two full moons; the second one is called a "blue moon". On rare occasions in a calendar year (as happened in 2010 in time zones east of UTC+07, and in 2018 in almost every time zone) both January and March each have two full moons, so that the second one in each month is called a "blue moon", and the month of February, with only 28 or 29 days, has no full moon.^[9] Under this misinterpretation, certain tropical years with 13 full moons, which would normally be said to have one blue moon, can be said to have two blue moons, making blue moons appear to be more frequent.

Supermoon of August 1, 2023

Supermoon Rising Through the Clouds

Growlers are smallish icebergs about the size of a bus above water and a fleet of buses underwater. When wedged on the sea floor hitting these burgs with smaller vessels is like hitting a reef so be aware.

This was a banner year for icebergs in Newfoundland. Unfortunately the weather was foggy with rain and drizzle so I didn't venture to the north shore to photograph them.

These growlers and icebergs were along the coast as seen from the road up the Great Northern Peninsula.

Bald Eagle

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Marsh Marigold

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I proceeded north on my ill faited trip up the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. The weather continued to gloom, fog and drizzle. Good photographic conditions were not to be had.

Route North of Gros Morne National Park

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Little Blue Violet

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Alpine Primrose

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This is another sad story of my attempt at getting all the great scenes and critters of Newfoundland on film. Alas Newfoundland had its worst winter in 40 years and even now the weather is awful. It was cold. wet. foggy and generally blah. I cut my trip short and only managed a few photographs of the mountains and countryside. The table lands of Gros Morne National Park are always a treat. My trip north up the Great Northern Peninsula was also disappointing because the arctic/alpine wildflowers were still dormant. With the ever present coastal fog I didn't try to visit Cape St. Marys.

Newfoundland and Nova Scotia Scenery

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The interior photos are fascinating as they show how the governor lived and the soldiers lived. I hope the federal government will continue to fund further reconstruction of this remarkable restoration.

Fortress of Louisbourg Part Two

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The Fortress of Louisbourg (French: Forteresse de Louisbourg) is a tourist attraction as a National Historic Site and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th-century French fortress at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Its two sieges, especially that of 1758, were turning points in the Anglo-French struggle for what today is Canada.^[1]

The original settlement was founded in 1713 by settlers from Terre-Neuve, and initially called Havre à l'Anglois. Subsequently, the fishing port grew to become a major commercial port and a strongly defended fortress. The fortifications eventually surrounded the town. The walls were constructed mainly between 1720 and 1740. By the mid-1740s Louisbourg, named for Louis XIV of France, was one of the most extensive (and expensive) European fortifications constructed in North America.^[2]

The site was supported by two smaller garrisons on Île Royale located at present-day St. Peter's and Englishtown. The Fortress of Louisbourg suffered key weaknesses, since it was erected on low-lying ground commanded by nearby hills and its design was directed mainly toward sea-based assaults, leaving the land-facing defences relatively weak. A third weakness was that it was a long way from France or Quebec, from which reinforcements might be sent. It was captured by British colonists in 1745, and was a major bargaining chip in the negotiations leading to the 1748 treaty ending the War of the Austrian Succession. It was returned to the French in exchange for border towns in what is today Belgium. It was captured again in 1758 by British forces in the Seven Years' War, after which its fortifications were systematically destroyed by British engineers.^[2] The British continued to have a garrison at Louisbourg until 1768 but had abandoned the site by 1785.^[3]

Fortress of Louisbourg

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I visited the gysum lands between rain storms to photograph the Yellow Lady's Slipper Orchid. It's late this year but still a treat to find. Interestingly, one week earlier there was only one example to be found on the exposed flats and just that week later it was shrivelled and the woodlands were now hosting the orchid in shady places. I didn't venture into the hummocks to search for the much rarer Ram's Head Orchid but maybe next year.

Phlox, an attractive garden escapee now endemic to these woods

The Pond

Yellow Lady's Slipper Orchid

With the wild fires, evacuations, steady rain and forest and trail closures warbler photography has been slow, but things will improve.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

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Ovenbird

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Timing is of the essence when searching for the Painted Trillium. Laura and I found the Painted Trillium in its usual location in the Mount Uniacke Museum Estate. Timing is of the essence as this elegant flower has a short blooming period.

Painted Trillium

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The Swainson's Thrush is the greyest and most spotted of our native thrushes. It is a woodland bird of the deep forests. I find them at higher altitudes and along the gnarled coastal forests. They are easy to find and identify by their musical song.

Swainson's Thrush

The Blackburian Warbler is as usual spectacular to see. In my experience they are a successful species, easy to find thanks to its song, much like a Black-and-White Warbler but different enough to easily separate the species.

They tend to favour mixed mature forests although they can be found anywhere.

Blackburnian Warbler

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The nesting colony of Pine Warblers is loading up. This bird is special because it is a recent addition to the nesting warblers of Nova Scotia, about 15 years in my experience.

Pine Warbler

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I went to Kejimkujik National Park yesterday but alas the cool weather has everything behind schedule at least one to two weeks. Warblers were scarce and flycatchers even more so save the Least Flycatcher which was behind every second bush.

Mill Falls are a treat and a must visit at the park. The water is running high and very frothy.

Mill Falls – Kejimkujik National Park

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