Lyn Heideman

March 2026 Total Lunar Eclipse: Your Questions Answered A total lunar eclipse will redden the Moon in the early morning hours of March 3, 2026. Here’s what you need to know.

Details (cont.)
* Partial eclipse ends (5:17 a.m. PST, 8:17 a.m. EST, 13:17 UTC)
* Penumbral eclipse ends (6:23 a.m. PST, 9:23 a.m. EST, 14:23 UTC)
* The next total lunar eclipse visible from the U.S. will not occur until New Year's Eve 2028.
* NASA: science.nasa.gov/solar-system....

Details:
* Penumbral eclipse begins (12:44 a.m. PST, 3:44 a.m. EST, 8:44 UTC)
* Partial eclipse begins (1:50 a.m. PST, 4:50 a.m. EST, 9:50 UTC)
* Totality begins (3:04 a.m. PST, 6:04 a.m. EST, 11:04 UTC)
* Totality ends (4:03 a.m. PST, 7:03 a.m. EST, 12:03 UTC)

This Tuesday, a ‘blood moon’ will be followed by a rare sky spectacle The moon will turn red for 58 minutes as it’s plunged into the Earth’s shadow

On Tuesday morning, a total lunar eclipse will be visible over all 50 US states. For 58 minutes, the moon will turn a rusty red as it slips into the Earth’s shadow. The East Coast will also see a rare selenelion, when both the sun & eclipsed moon are simultaneously visible: wapo.st/4u3iJgo (gift). 🌎

YouTube video by Cornell Lab of Ornithology Through the Lens: Eastern Screech-Owl Camouflage

Your best chance of seeing them may be to listen for the excited voices of songbirds mobbing an owl. On cold sunny days, you may see owls sunning sleepily in the entrances to their hideouts. Watch (2-min. video by @cornellbirds.bsky.social): www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuRl.... #birds

Eastern Screech-Owls are masters of camouflage. The red, gray, or intermediate brownish birds are common east of the Rockies. Found wherever trees are, they hide out in tree nooks and crannies during the day. How to spot them? Listen in wooded areas at night for the vocal owl's trills and whinnies.

Photo of a gray wolf in the snow. (Photo courtesy of the Endangered Species Coalition.)

Gray wolves are in danger of extinction, but the US Senate is about to strip their ESA safeguards with the misleadingly named "Pet and Livestock Protection Act." Tell them NO! It's fast/easy with a customizable letter @stopextinction.bsky.social sends for you: actionnetwork.org/letters/stop.... 🌎

California Wolf Blazes New Trail The epic journey of Bae has been a cause for celebration and highlights the need for road safety

A lone gray wolf looking for a mate recently entered Los Angeles County, the first in a century. Finding no other wolves, she's returned to Northern California. Her journey, though, has inspired efforts to make wildlife movement safer in the state: www.sierraclub.org/sierra/calif.... 🌎

Who Wins If Republicans Destroy The Boundary Waters? China Why destroy America’s most popular Wilderness? Foreign profits, obviously.

Why are Trump and congressional Republicans destroying Boundary Waters—America’s most popular Wilderness area—with a copper mine that will leach sulfuric acid into its pristine waters? @wessiler.bsky.social follows the money: wessiler.substack.com/p/who-wins-i.... 🌎

Stop Congress from selling out the Boundary Waters to a Chilean-owned mine Corporate polluters are taking aim at one of North America’s most treasured landscapes.

...but the company intends to ship the ore abroad to be processed and sold. Tell your senators to vote NO! You can call [+1 (202) 224-3121]. Or @earthjustice.org makes it fast/easy to send a personalized letter (and they email it for you): earthjustice.org/action/defen.... Thank you! 🌎

SENATE MAY VOTE ON BOUNDARY WATERS ANY DAY. Republicans may soon approve a Chilean company’s sulfide-ore copper mine on Boundary Waters. The mine would leach sulfuric acid, permanently poisoning the area’s pristine landscapes & waters. Trump promotes the mine as a critical source for US minerals...

Heading to the deep end without knowing how to swim: Do we need deep-seabed mining? (ScienceDirect): www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Any others? Thank you!!

I found these articles: The false promise of deep-sea mining: www.nature.com/articles/s44... and pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

The Conversation: We don’t need deep-sea mining, or its environmental harms. Here’s why: envs.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/07...

and...

They are such a delightful pair. Thanks for chronicling them in these wonderful videos. I'm hoping for a 3rd egg and no more snowstorms (ever the optimist).

Photo of a Bohemian Waxwing taken in Türkiye by Burak Efe ÖZGAN during the Great Backyard Bird Count. Photo courtesy of Macaulay Library and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Video recap (with photos from the GBBC): www.youtube.com/shorts/_zF6R....

Final report in mid-March. Results to date: ebird.org/gbbc/region/...?

How to use eBird to look up local results: www.birdcount.org/explore-loca...? #birds

The 2026 Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is over, but the counting continues (data accepted until Mar. 1). Results to date:
* 1,590,167 submissions (Merlin & eBird)
* ~1 million people participated worldwide
* 186,839 Macaulay Library photos, sounds, and videos
* 8,119 bird species identified

YouTube video by Cornell Lab Bird Cams Royal Albatross Chick Spends First Night Alone At The Nest In New Zealand | DOC | Cornell Lab

The parents need to spend more time foraging as the growing chick requires more food. And the chick can now regulate its own body temperature and store fat to survive for several days between meals: www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3VQ.... Rangers also keep an eye on the little ball of fluff. #birds

YouTube video by Cornell Lab Bird Cams Dad Flies In To Take Over Duties At Royal Albatross Nest | DOC | Cornell Lab

Northern Royal Albatross, NZ: WYL returned to the nest on Feb. 24 to feed his hungry chick as BOK headed out to sea to forage: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im6R.... On Feb. 26, when the chick was 35 days old, WYL left the chick alone ("post-guard" stage). What!?

YouTube video by SK Hideaways FOBBVCAM Eagles🦅Jackie Delivers Egg #2 of Second Clutch🥚🥚 Congrats Jackie & Shadow!🎉 2026 Feb 27

so chicks hatch closer together and have more equal chances. Bald Eagle chicks can be aggressive with each other; Jackie & Shadow's strategy is to keep their eaglets in food comas.

Watch egg #2 arrive (video by @skh4birdies.bsky.social and courtesy FOBBV): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKRb.... #birds

Big Bear Bald Eagles: Jackie laid the 2nd egg of her 2nd clutch today (she lost both eggs in her 1st clutch to crows).

You may notice that she and Shadow don't incubate the eggs full-time. Bald Eagles often practice delayed incubation (start full-time incubation when last egg laid)...

I suspect she got tired in their nighttime rendezvous of being put in the lead to suffer any unfortunate encounters with predators, so is teaching him a lesson about the proper way to treat a lady--and in the case of Opossums, that is NOT ladies first.

Satellites Reveal New Climate Threat to Emperor Penguins - Inside Climate News Ice loss in the Antarctic Ocean may be killing the sea birds during their molting season.

...and possibly to a premature death in the icy ocean. The collapse of molting sites is a new threat to the already endangered birds, which number ~250K breeding pairs worldwide: insideclimatenews.org/news/2602202...?

Research paper: www.nature.com/articles/s43.... #birds 🌎

Each year, Emperor Penguins molt on coastal sea ice for several weeks: it’s dangerous for them to enter the ocean to feed because they're regrowing their waterproof feathers. But in recent warmer years, their ice platforms are melting earlier, forcing the weakened birds into smaller areas...

I just found it astonishing that the research didn't factor in whether humans could still exist.

Bad news! If all the ice in Antarctica were to melt, global sea levels would rise by ~200 to 230 feet, submerging nearly all coastal cities and displacing billions of people.

Average global temperatures are predicted to rise by 2.6°C (4.7°F) by 2100, which would be catastrophic for life on Earth.

Antarctica’s Mineral Riches Exposed as Climate Warms

Good news? A new study finds that, as the climate continues to warm, much of Antarctica will lose its ice by the year 2300, exposing valuable metal deposits: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/c... (gift). There is no mention of the impact of the warming on life on the planet. 🌎

Birds Aren’t Just Declining. They’re Declining Faster, a New Study Finds.

The study adds to a robust body of evidence that birds—a sentinel for the health of other species—are not OK. More research findings: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/c... (gift).

Journal article: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/.... #birds 🌎

Scientists studying studying birds for >3 decades report continuing losses. Their research found correlation—not causation—with intensive agriculture and warming temperatures. Also concerning, they found that bird declines have sped up over time.

Stop plans to mine the ocean floor Profit-driven multinational companies want to mine for resources in the most difficult places on the planet for us to reach: the deep sea.

All that destruction would be for an unsafe, historically unsuccessful endeavor with little evidence of feasibility/profitability. @earthjustice.org makes it fast/easy to object with a comment you can personalize and they'll send: earthjustice.org/action/stop-...? Comment by EOD Mar. 1. Thank you! 🌎

Trump wants to open more than 100 million acres of astonishingly biodiverse seabed off the coast of Alaska to mining. Deep-sea mining would be destructive for the ocean floor and the unique species that inhabit this vast, rich ecosystem.

To everyone who took care of Astoria during the storm: thank you! I very much appreciated the updates.

I am so impressed by how wildlife adapts--how Astoria has welcomed her "human flock." And so impressed by the humans who take care of her in the Big City, even during a fierce storm.