This season’s natural events that you won’t want to miss

Great horned owls mate in January and raise their young in the dead of winter. This time of the year these amazing birds can be heard calling to potential mates, marking their territory, and communicating with their lifelong-partners. The best part? You don’t have to be in the middle of the woods to hear them. Great horned owls can be found in residential areas too. After the sun goes down, listen for the sounds in this video:

Upcoming program: join us for the Full Moon Hike on Mar 2 to hear great horned owls and more!

On Wednesday, January 31st, look out for the rare Supermoon eclipse! While supermoons and eclipses are relatively common, the syncing up of the two events is pretty rare. The combination of these two events will cause the moon to look larger than normal, and may cause the moon to appear red. To observe the supermoon eclipse, get outside early in the morning, at about 7am (“moonset”).

A supermoon is caused by the moon’s orbit, which is elliptical. During a supermoon, the moon is both full, and at its closest point to the earth.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth’s orbit falls between the sun and moon, casting a shadow over the moon, like this:

Image: NASA

The bald eagle has returned to the Hudson Valley! If you’re anxious for EagleFest and want to get in some early eagle-spotting, now is as good a time as any to head down to the river with your binoculars to catch these amazing birds ice fishing on the river.

Image: Bonnie Coe

Eagles can be spotted hunting, flying, and perched along the river:

• To catch them hunting, look out onto the ice floes like in the photo above
• Spot flying eagles by looking for their ironing-board-flat wingspan soaring in the sky
• To observe them perched in trees, look for “baseballs” in the trees. Their white heads will help you spot them