Just so you know, Thursday (February 22nd) is National Wildlife Day, so call in sick that day and go find wildlife, even if it’s captive wildlife in a zoo or nature park or something, but preferably really and for true in the wild, which means outdoors. Now, c’mon – how many of your coworkers failed to show up the day after Super Bowl or some such rot? Okay then – this is a much better reason.
I actually have plans to do some shooting that day, so we’ll see what happens, but at least there’s a little motivation and the weather may be good for it; it’s been remaining a tad too cold, though we have the occasional warm day, as the fella below attests (that was taken a week ago.) And I have a post already lined up, which means there might be more than one for the day. No promises.
Plus there’s another holiday coming up on Saturday, I believe, though I haven’t figured out what it is yet can’t quite remember what it is. But I do remember that it’s cool.
I’ll drop another reminder in here, though I doubt you’d have missed it since all forms of media seem to be on top of it, but the total solar eclipse is coming up on April 8th, crossing a very large swath of the contiguous US and Mexico; the band of totality is quite impressive, but the band of partial eclipse can be seen by damn near all of North and Central America. Make sure you have your glasses and necessary filters, and your timing is bang-on – totality will only last a couple of minutes. I will be in Ohio within the path of totality and will be getting as many pics as I can, hopefully doing even better than the last opportunity.
The day before (April 7th,) the tiny crescent moon will occlude Venus during the day, for observers in much the same band as the eclipse – Stellarium will help you determine if and when this will occur for your area. While the moon will be extremely difficult to spot during the time (this will occur at roughly 12:30 PM EST,) Venus will be especially bright at a magnitude near -4, so with clear skies and knowing where to look, it will be easier to find than the moon, and hopefully will highlight that crescent as it draws near. I’ll be aiming for that too. I’m well aware that the weather may make either impossible to see, and that’s just how it goes, but I’m doing my best to ensure that if I miss either, it’s not through any fault of my own.
So there are a couple of things to chase, should you be inclined (and why wouldn’t you be?) As always, if I’m successful with any of them myself, you’ll see the evidence here soon enough.
Good luck!