Moon Phases

[BobbyO]

Thanks for that Galahad, appreciate it.

 

Have a good one this weekend too.

[Guest]

I imagine sasquatch head off to find food every night. Full moon or not. If they are like us in any way, they may get restless on full moonlit nights like we sometimes do, or they may realize they are just as visible in extra brightness and stay hidden. I know native americans planned raids on moonless nights to exploit the extra dark conditions.

[BobbyO]

True kearnsey.

I'm interested however as I'm trying to look at any correlation between certain phases and sightings, and what the different phases of the moon really mean and how they can affect things like animal movement and why.

Predators, game, all animals.

Great insight so far.

[hiflier]

Hello BobbyO,

 

I've been looking at stuff more in line to what you are getting at. I'm finding that things are not so cut and dried as one would think. OF COURSE! One of the things that crossed my mind was WHY some creatures (quite a few actually) are nocturnal in the first place. Oh that was a fun rabbit hole LOL. Then I went to the structure of the nocturnal eye. Then the tapetum lucidum and it's four basic compositions. Environmental variables, Light variables. And of course temperature as was mentioned.

 

Temperature in my opinion is the chief reason for air-breathing creatures to have evolved as nocturnal in the first place. I won't go into that here but the short version was to avoid the heat of a warmer planet and death due to dehydration- the deserts of course being th worst areas. I also looked for correlations between the types of tapetum lucidum vs. the level of low light. Not enough studies have been done to determine that aspect but it seems that the most obvious elements involve the type of pupil opening (whether round or slitted) the distance between the eye's lens and retina, the actual lens shape, the number of rods vs. cones, and even why some animals/birds have necks that swivel 180 degrees rather than move their eyes (their eyes are fixed in their sockets and cannot move).

 

Bottom line here is, for me anyway, the moon phase relationship to animal movement comes down to varying levels of night vision capability. But more important perhaps, for example in the case of deer movement, is the movement of a predator species that moves the deer.  A predator species that moves the fish. Something that sees better than they do. To be fair though, a predator species that DOESN't see as well may result in the prey having an advantage as long as they keep on the move. Either way I think the answer lies in knowing the predator. Be it wolf, or coyote, or bear, or mountain lion.

 

So when the predator is acivated by better moon light the prey get alerted and are harder to pin down. The predators get hungrier and the chase continues into the day.

 

As a last thought insects are attracted to light. On moon nights they may become more of a nuisancs and harass animlals to a greater degree. At the same time though their presence could be good for fish as they "land on the moon" on the water's surface. As far as the daytime stuff? I truly think the dynamic of daytime animal movement occurs as an extended reaction due to the activities of the previous night. The jitters if you will. Everything's on edge. 

Edited March 20, 2014 by hiflier

[gigantor]

Great topic BobbyO.

 

I've been testing my trail cam over the past two months and this thread prompted me to look at the dates which generated the most pics.

 

Even though it's a small sample (60 days), there appears to be a pattern...  both in February and March, the most pics I got by far (10 to 1) occurred during February 11th through the 19th. In March it was the 9th through the 14th.

 

http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases_calendar.phtml

 

Right before Full Moon. I'll wait and get a lot more data before drawing any conclusions, but so far, it looks like a good pattern.

[BobbyO]

Cool G, I have had a look at that website this week.

Was looking at this - http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phase_hunting.phtml

Good post too Hiflier, and interesting thoughts.

Another option to consider is the time of the month ( PMT ) for certain animals.

I have seen that mentioned regularly when reading about this in relation to Deer.

Edited March 20, 2014 by BobbyO

[Guest lightheart]

Bobby O I have been pondering your response about Florida's temperatures. The thing about North Florida where I live is that we can have huge temperature drops in winter. I am talking 40 degree drops in a 24 hour period. When this is happening the barometric pressure is dropping very very fast as well. You can feel it happening almost like going down a rollercoaster  People  and animals react to these pressure changes so I am willing to bet that Sasquatch do too.

[Galahad]

Bobby, As you know we track moon phases in our projects. It became apparent, here in the Northwest that weather conditions also play a role in the amount of available light. I also track moon rise and set, that is a big variable too. So just tracking the phase of the moon only gives part of the full context.

[BobbyO]

Thanks Galahad.

I guess bottom one is that animals no matter what the weather or moon phase etc, do still have to move and eat in any 24 hour period.

From the input so far though, I'm thinking that game would find it easier and more comfortable to move on darker nights for some reason even though their predators are generally thought of to be nocturnal too.

Just having a quite browse over the state of WA, there isn't any main stand out moon phases for Sasquatch sightings that jump out at me butt here are obviously phases that are more popular than an other and I think the key may be to break them down and see if there is any correlation with other parts of the country, if the more popular phases appear consistently with different areas.

[BobbyO]

I've started to find better correlations with a certain area of my WA numbers than I first thought I was, I guess it's because I'm learning more about the moon phases and how they work in relation to the predators/prey advantage/disadvantage.

Most interesting to me is when the reports of wood knocking is being heard.

I know that the jury is still out on wood knocks and rightly so but the numbers I'm looking at via public reports are that the wood knocking reports occur much, much more so within the darker cycles of the moon, when the moon is emitting the least amount of light.

We could theorise differently as to why this would be, but I'm thinking it's all about comms as I've thought it has to be for a long time.

Predators hunt more so within these phases of the moon, if you add the more than 80% of wood knocks occurring within these same consecutive 4 out of 8 moon phases and the four which emit the least light, could we be looking at hunting communications at prime hunting times ?

Edited August 1, 2014 by BobbyO

[hiflier]

Hello BobbyO,

i've noticed coyotes getting active at the first quarter so there is something to be said for this for sure. Regarding Sasquatch wood knocking at darker moon phases? The thought crossed my mind tht it may be more of learned behavior they picked up at the advent of Humans using guns for hunting. They may have noticed that when a gun goes off animals run away. So it may be something they imatate to ward off any large predators who may be stalking for young BF's during darker nights- like bears perhaps. Or other Alpha males to keep then from territory where their mates or nests are. from a distance it may sound like gunfire.

[David NC]

Hi BobbyO. NDT hit it on the head with what patterns I noticed when hunting. The moon overhead is when the best movement is and if that moon straight over head gets close to when the deer would normally move it made it exponential. Say if I noticed the moon peaking overhead 2-3 hours before dark I would see deer in almost every field we would drive by. I did not do so well during the full moon. I also notice deer moving heavy 24 hours or so before a major weather front moves in. Combine a day before weather front coming in and not a full moon with the moon straight over head = good day.

[Branco]

Bobby: It has been my experience over the years that on clear nights just before, after and during a full moon BF are the least active. I now seldom camp during those periods, and infrequently go out on those nights to try to locate a particular group by listening for their vocalizations. All my field work has been done in twelve southeastern states.

 

My theory is that since BF apparently has great night vision during the darker moon phases, and recognizes that humans don't, he may think humans and the game he hunts are able to easily see him under the light of a bright moon.  

 

On moonlight nights with heavy cloud cover I suspect they forage and hunt as usual.

[Trogluddite]

.... I ask because I like to look at moon phases and see if there's any correlation with regards to Sasquatch sightings but threes a few things I'm uncertain on. ...  I haven't got much experience at all with hunting animals, only people.

 

 

.... I also have a couple Casio 'Hunting Timer" watches that calculate moon phase based peak movement periods as far out as you care to check it....   I can advise that moon phases are eerily accurate in predicting peak game feeding & movement times. 

 

 

Bobby O, My daughter does scientific data collection on Monkeys in the Amazon jungles of Ecuador. Moon Phases are noted and collected as a data point. She has noted less animal activity during full phases of the moon and more activity in new phases of the moon.....

 

 

Bobby: It has been my experience over the years that on clear nights just before, after and during a full moon BF are the least active.....On moonlight nights with heavy cloud cover I suspect they forage and hunt as usual.

 

For Branco and NDT, based on your experience, and for Galahad, based on your daughter's experience, is activity differentiated by whether the moon is waxing or waning?

 

There is the same amount of effective moonlight (assuming the same local and meteorological conditions) three days before or after a full moon or a new moon, for example.  Do fish and deer react differently based on whether the moon is waxing or waning, if you can tell?  

 

Bobby O, 

     If you own your own private island and periodically invite people to visit, I'll decline, Dr. Moreau....

 

    FWIW, I've recently updated information on NY/VT/MA/CT (western section of MA/CT only) encounters east of the line created by Lakes Champlain & George, the Hudson River, and the NYC megalopolis.

 

   There were 126 total encounters.  48 occurred at dusk/night/dawn AND had sufficient information to identify the moon phase.  However, I lump waxing and waning quarters together so I only have 3 categories - Full or gibbous moon, 1/4 moon, and new/crescent moon.  

 

   The encounters were distributed like this: 

 

Full/Gibbous            - 15

1/4 moon                 - 15

New/Crescent          - 18  

 

    I had not looked these numbers up before now, so I'm as perplexed/stunned as anyone else. Surprisingly, more encounters occurred at a distance of over 50 yards in poor light conditions (new or crescent moon) than under a 1/4 or full/gibbous moon.   

[Branco]

My first sighting - at 2 or 3 feet - was at 2 am, and it was a dark night with the open sky behind him. I didn't note the phase of the moon.

 

The two other sightings were in the afternoon. Have no idea about the moon phases during either sighting. Sorry.