Clear skies are forecasted for Saturday big event! We plan to drive west. So today I started to prep for the annular eclipse. First a few shots closer to home. 🙂
This little beauty crawled onto my hand. Don’t you love its little curved horn-like palps.
Called a Flower Moth (Scythris) it is found on many flowers. Here it was on Goldenrod (Solidago). So at just the right angle the 12mm Flower Moth glistened.
Today I counted 50 Monarchs on my two short walks. Here they come!
A few others like this Buckeye were out too. However, the Monarchs took the prize for the big numbers!
Now ahead of the annular eclipse is the time to prep. Solar eclipse glasses, check!
First a practice shot of the sun with the cell phone using a solar filter. Nope, that won’t hack it.
Next out comes the big Canon! Certainly this will work. Using my solar filter and setup from 2017’s total eclipse, next shot. Yep perfect. Are you ready?
Apparently the IUCN says “In an unusual reversal, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has decided North America’s monarch butterfly is not “endangered.” Instead, the insect is only “vulnerable” to extinction, the group said last week—adding that it could lower the alarm still further, changing the listing to “near threatened” if an upcoming census suggests the population is stable or growing.” https://www.fws.gov/initiative/pollinators/monarchs
However, the USFS current post on their website says “In December 2020, after an extensive status assessment of the monarch butterfly, we determined that listing the monarch under the Endangered Species Act is warranted but precluded at this time by higher priority listing actions. With this finding, the monarch butterfly becomes a candidate for listing; we will review its status each year until we are able to begin developing a proposal to list the monarch.” https://www.fws.gov/initiative/pollinators/monarchs This fws.gov website has a several very interesting articles on the Monarchs. So in my opinion there is a reason to be alarmed about the declining populations of all the insects species.
Being that we can sit in our own yard here at the farm to enjoy this eclipse on Saturday, we are quite excited! Got our glasses at a astronomy talk on the eclipses so we are ready. I want to take photos but I don’t have any fancy filters. So can I still get pics or should I just forget it.
I thought we would have people asking to come here to view but no takers. We are worried a bit about tresspassers and log jammed roads and highways. Glad I can stay put.
Perhaps people just want to sit home to watch like you? So neat that you can watch both from your home. If you don’t want to get a filter (and you can make your own cheaply) try doing the pinhole camera trick. I plan to do that as well actually. 🙂
I read recently that monarchs are no longer considered endangered. Can that be true? Sure hope it is.
Apparently the IUCN says “In an unusual reversal, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has decided North America’s monarch butterfly is not “endangered.” Instead, the insect is only “vulnerable” to extinction, the group said last week—adding that it could lower the alarm still further, changing the listing to “near threatened” if an upcoming census suggests the population is stable or growing.” https://www.fws.gov/initiative/pollinators/monarchs
However, the USFS current post on their website says “In December 2020, after an extensive status assessment of the monarch butterfly, we determined that listing the monarch under the Endangered Species Act is warranted but precluded at this time by higher priority listing actions. With this finding, the monarch butterfly becomes a candidate for listing; we will review its status each year until we are able to begin developing a proposal to list the monarch.” https://www.fws.gov/initiative/pollinators/monarchs This fws.gov website has a several very interesting articles on the Monarchs. So in my opinion there is a reason to be alarmed about the declining populations of all the insects species.
Being that we can sit in our own yard here at the farm to enjoy this eclipse on Saturday, we are quite excited! Got our glasses at a astronomy talk on the eclipses so we are ready. I want to take photos but I don’t have any fancy filters. So can I still get pics or should I just forget it.
I thought we would have people asking to come here to view but no takers. We are worried a bit about tresspassers and log jammed roads and highways. Glad I can stay put.
Perhaps people just want to sit home to watch like you? So neat that you can watch both from your home. If you don’t want to get a filter (and you can make your own cheaply) try doing the pinhole camera trick. I plan to do that as well actually. 🙂
Hooray for monarch season!
You are my viewing plan haha!!
Ha Ha!