• Animal Kingdom - Birds/Birding

    How to identify these finches

    Many times, even seasoned birders can confuse Cassin's, House and Purple Finches (Carpodacus genus). Especially when they're crowded around your birdfeeder, side by side. It's easy to do. But hopefully this guide from The Cornell Labs will make the job a little easier...

  • astronomy - Space

    Solar Flare or CME?

    With the recent flux of aurora, I'm sure many of you have heard the use of two terms: solar flare and coronal mass ejection (CME). While both reach Earth and can produce auroras, they are not to be confused with one another...

  • Animal Kingdom - Birds/Birding

    BirdCast – Migration Dashboard

    The month of October brings about massive bird migrations, as many of our feathered friends fly south for the winter. If you’d like to see stats on birds in your part of the woods, then you’re in luck. Simply click on the link and select your area from the search bar. The new BirdCast Migration Dashboard provides summaries of radar-based measurements of nocturnal bird migration, including estimates of the total number of birds migrating, their directions, speeds, and altitudes. This tool depicts migration patterns in near real time or as a summary of a whole night after nocturnal periods end…

  • astronomy - Space - Weather

    Oooo-weee, CME

    SEVERE GEOMAGNETIC STORM PREDICTED: A geomagnetic storm (G1-G3) that sparked auroras as far south as Arizona and Texas on Oct. 7th and 8th is finally over. If you missed the show, good news: more auroras are in the offing. The sun just launched another CME directly toward Earth, and it could cause a severe G4-class storm when it arrives on Oct. 10th...