See the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse - Greetings from Wyoming!

August 21, 2017
A roadside pull out on the Wind River Reservation.

Clouds stream by, covering the sun... did we pick the wrong spot?

First Contact:
Kind of Cloudy

The temperature begins to drop
The morning birds become quieter.

 

The sky clears!

Darkness slides over the road and the nearby farm.

Crickets start to chirp - extreme shadows!

A few seconds before totality! 
Bailey's beads!
Diamond ring!

Second Contact:
Totality!

Third Contact:
Diamond ring again!

  Darkness peels away and the sun hits you like a hammer.

A rooster crows restarting his day....

For more info on eclipses, and Wyoming - Visit us and subscribe at TheEarthMinute.com

The Earth Minute presents: Preview to the American Total Solar Eclipse August 21, 2017

In Hot Water - Yellowstone Basin - Visiting Yellowstone National Park  

Storm Brewing over Grand Tetons National Park, WY 
See Yellowstone Hot Pools Bubbling (Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming)
Listen to The Dragon (Yellowstone National Park)

Where will you be for the American Eclipse? - August 21, 2017

Coming up on Monday, August 21, 2017

 

Totality

OK, OK we know...
But do you, really?  Where will you be?

NASA Eclipse State Maps: 
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-maps
(includes viewable and printable maps showing the eclipse pathway and times)
You can see a partial eclipse anywhere in North America!

 In Southern California? 

See the 60-70% partial eclipse!

What Do You Need For Viewing?

0. Solar filters for eyes, cameras, and scopes:
   
   
   
    
   
   
   Camera Obscura (indirect observation): a pinhole in a card to project the image of the Sun. 
   
   

For our friends in Los Angeles, the Griffith Observatory posted a great .gif to show the partial eclipse.

 Sun Viewed through a solar filter

We really like their name for the eclipse:

THE ALL-AMERICAN TRANSCONTINENTAL TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE!

http://griffithobservatory.org/events/Solar_Eclipse_August_2017.html

http://griffithobservatory.org/events/Special_Event_Partial_Eclipse_2017.html 

Look for the patterns in the shadows from leaves on the ground.. or your house!

 For More on Eclipses.. 
 Visit TheEarthMinute.com

The Earth Minute presents: the American Total Solar Eclipse 

 Visit the FANTASTIC NASA Site
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/
 

Look closely! Spring Rain in Southern California

Southern California doesn't get much rain.
Even though our good rainstorms this year [2017] didn't leave much of a lasting impression, the early morning raindrops on the flowers and leaves made patterns on patterns on patterns.

Look closely and see the magic!
HD

 

 

 

For more adventures in Southern California - 

and around the world...

 Subscribe to TheEarthMinute.com
Discover the Headwaters of the Los Angeles River (least sandpipers, American crows) 
Summer Visit to Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park, CA (island fox, common long-beaked dolphins) 
Walk Mulholland Hwy, Santa Monica Mts. (CA towhee, wildflowers)

The Earth Minute presents: the American Total Solar Eclipse Only 5 Months Away

On August 21st, 2017 a coast to coast Total Solar Eclipse will cross the United States from Oregon to South Carolina.

Totality will touch Western Oregon around 10:10 am PDT and hit the Atlantic in South Carolina at about 2:50 pm EDT.
The maximum duration along the path will be 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS, YOU HAVEN'T SEEN A

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE!

Where will you be for this rare astronomical event?
Below is a video of the progression of the Mongolian Total Solar Eclipse taken by Michael Lawshe in 2008.
The path of totality is narrow, in 2017 it will be only 60 miles wide. 
Keep an eye on this site: TheEarthMinute.com for more information and posts about this great upcoming adventure that YOU can be a part of!!

 Visit the FANTASTIC NASA Site
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/
Here is a link to a pdf map of the path.

Thanks to the amazing work of Xavier Jubier for the interactive google map of the total solar eclipse.
NASA: Eclipses and Eclipse Wise by Fred Espenak.


http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html 

 OPEN THIS LINK!
THEN, Click on the map in this link and find out how much of the eclipse YOU will see.

 for more adventures: Subscribe to us!
Storm Brewing over Grand Tetons National Park, WY
See Yellowstone Hot Pools Bubbling (Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming)
 

Desert Tortoise Takes First Drink of Spring

Tortoise hibernation, or winter torpor, is an amazing adaptation. For 3-5 months they sleep without eating, drinking or eliminating waste. When they wake up in the spring, they need a long drink of water.

HD
This male desert tortoise has been hibernating since the first week of December 2016. He woke up this morning March 16, 2017.

Watch him drink. His eyes and nose are submerged. He lets the water bathe his eyes and sucks water in and out of his nasal passage to flush out his nose. The Aldabra tortoise, from islands in the Indian Ocean, is known to have a flap in its nasal passage that allows the tortoise to draw water up its nostrils and into its throat without pulling the water into its lungs. I think there is a good chance that other tortoises have this adaptation as well. If you look closely you can see a brown plume area in front of the desert tortoise's nose where it has pushed away the dirt on the bottom of the pan as it blew water out through its nostrils. 

Notice how much he drinks. How much lower the water level is along his body when he stops drinking. 

The creatures around us have amazing adaptations for survival. Definitely worthy of an extra minute to stop and appreciate.

More Earth Minutes with desert tortoises:
Backyard Breakfast - Reptile Style (CA desert tortoise & western fence lizard)
Desert Tortoise Hibernation
Signs of Spring (California desert tortoise)
   
and other tortoises
See Aphrodisia and The Temple of Aphrodite, Anatolia, Turkey (spur-thighed tortoise)

Visit TheEarthMinute.com for your weekly minute in nature. 

Catalina Clams in Baja, Mexico

Sometimes an Earth Minute is right at your feet.

I recently traveled to San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Along the shores of the lagoon there were mounds and mounds of shells.

HD

Catalina clams were over harvested here in the last century. The clams were sold as food and millions of their shells were sold in the U.S. for decoration. The mounds of shells piled up in the desert are a testament to the enormity of the over harvesting. Similar mounds can also be seen of pen scallop shells.

Protection of numerous shellfish species over the past few decades has made a difference. Species like the Catalina clam and pen scallop are making a come back. Today fishing combines with tourism to support the local economy.

I went to San Ignacio for the whales. Earth Minutes with gray whales are coming!

Other Earth Minutes with protected species
Meet An Island Fox
Protected Island Fox
Meet a Dugong
Meet a Platypus 
American Bison
Snowy Egret 
Saltwater crocodile
How Tall is a Redwood Tree
California desert tortoise
Great Barrier Reef 

Visit TheEarthMinute.com for weekly natural experiences.

Pouring Rain in California 2017

It's true. When it finally rains in California, it pours.

HD
Thursday, Feb. 16th, we had our first big rain storm in years. No post because our electricity went out.

Soaking rains over the previous month have made a huge difference for the hillside. This rain is soaking in before running off. No mud flowing.  Two inches fell before noon, a total of four and a quarter inches for the day.

Spring flowers are already emerging and the plum tree is about to burst into bloom.

Have to love the rain.

Rain Earth Minutes:
Rain in New York's Central Park in Fall
Listen to a Rainstorm Approaching Kakadu National Park, Australia
How Do Trees Dream? 
Illinois Butterflies After the Rain 
Great Horned Owl Takes Shelter

TheEarthMinute.com your 1-minute weekly escape

Do Raccoons Come Out During the Day?

Here is your answer. This Earth Minute is brought to you by Bodie the dog and the neighborhood canines.

HD

Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are abundant in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California. For the last two nights we have heard two raccoons making their chittering talk at night. It isn't often that we see them in the middle of the day, but today was the exception.

This adult raccoon might have gotten hot in its daylight retreat. The weather was unusually warm today. Traveling along the fence top, the neighborhood dogs spotted it and sounded the alarm. Bodie is big enough that the raccoon took to the tree for protection.

A half hour of contained dogs and the raccoon had moved on. It'll probably be back in the early morning to explore the backyard mud for grubs and other morsels.

It's not often that a large mammal makes an unexpected visit. It's nice to have a moment with wildness here in the heart of Los Angeles. 

Other Earth Minutes with Bodie
A Romp at the Beach
Yellowstone Bison Jam
Morning in a Habitat Yard

Other Backyard Visitors in Los Angeles
Alligator Lizard
Family of Ravens
Bewick's wrens build a nest
Watching Lizards in LA Yard
Cooper's Hawk and Raven
Valley Carpenter Bees
Anise Swallowtail
Red Jumping Spider 
Ring-necked Snake
More CA Animals

Visit TheEarthMinute Weekly for a New Minute with the World

Walk with us The Women's March in Los Angeles, January 21, 2017

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles on January 21, 2017 for The Women's March in Los Angeles.

It was the most diverse, inclusive and uplifting march and civil protest we have ever seen.

 

See and Hear the day in LA.

HD 

The subway system from Universal City to Pershing Square was overloaded ...

 

... but once we realized that if you "Go North it Turns Around", we packed ourselves in.

It was an honor to have been able to join in voicing our concerns for the full rights of all people.

 

Support and defend your first amendment rights and the rights of others. 
Support and defend our earth.

Hear our voice.

"This Is What Democracy Looks Like" !!
 Join us at TheEarthMinute.com

Saved By The Endangered Species Act

Human survival and well being depends on a healthy robust environment. We know what works.


HD

Channel Island foxes were headed toward extinction in the year 2000. Seventeen years later, because of the Endangered Species Act and active conservation efforts from a broad range of government agencies, private and public conservation organizations, and community members, island foxes are thriving again.

Positive change and clean-up takes much longer and is far more financially expensive than prevention. Forests can not regrow overnight. Cleaning-up coastal waters takes decades. Bringing a species back from the brink of extinction is difficult.

We are going to hear a lot about "common sense" regulation in the next four years. Whether we like to admit it or not there are people who place their own personal gain over the health and well being of other people and the planet. The Environmental Protection Agency, Justice Department, Interior Department, Department of Health and Human Services, and Energy Department are supposed to act on behalf of the least represented, to protect those with the least-heard voice.

What good is military might if we poison ourselves with chemical-laced water and toxic air?

If you stood under a clear blue sky today, thank the Clean Air Act and continuing updates of vehicle emissions standards.

If you could drink your tap water, thank the Clean Water Act.

If you saw a bird fly overhead that was something other than a starling, European house sparrow, or a feral rock dove, thank the Migratory Bird Conservation Act.

If, in the last five years, you saw a bald eagle, brown pelican, elephant seal, California sea lion, sea otter, grizzly bear, gray wolf, American bison, sandhill or whooping crane, peregrine falcon, gray whale, Florida key deer, or a Channel Island fox, thank the Endangered Species Act.

We've made too many positive steps toward a cleaner, safer planet. Let's not let it slip away.

TheEarthMinute.com 

because we are part of the Earth's community.