Month: January 2017

National Geographic reported a number of skywatching events happening this month

A flurry of amazing sky-watching events visible from around the world will usher in the new year. With a prolific meteor shower and the moon posing with planets, there are definitely plenty of reasons to look up at the night sky this month.

Read article at  New Year’s Shooting Stars and 6 More Great Sky Events in January

The State of North America’s Birds 2016

We continue to laud the importance of eBird on this site, gaining special importance as it becomes more and more clear that wildlife doesn’t acknowledge political borders. The data gleaned from tens of thousands of Canadian, Mexican and U.S. citizen scientists who contribute to eBird indicate that more than 350 species in North America migrate up and down Canada, the U.S.A, and Mexico over the course of a calendar year.

And according to the recently released State of North America’s Birds 2016 report, those three countries—their governments, and their societies—need to step up and do more to preserve our continent’s spectacular and shared natural heritage of birdlife. This report is the first-ever scientific conservation assessment of all 1,154 bird species in North America, and it was only possible because of the tremendous scale and big-data capabilities of citizen-science….

Among the many takeaways from eBird maps and models includes…