Fort McMurray Area Evacuations Complete
The final stage of a massive evacuation by land and air of people living in and around Fort McMurray, Alberta is over.
The last of 25,000 residents who'd fled north to oilpatch work camps last week have now been relocated to areas south of the fire.
Firefighters on Sunday were able to focus on hotspots and say they've finally reached a turning point in fighting the fire, thanks to cooler temperatures.
Premier Rachel Notley says the fight has stabilized to the point where she can tour the area today, allowing her government to figure out what must be done to eventually allow Fort Mac's more than 80,000 evacuees to return.
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Russia Offers Aid for Fort McMurray Fire
The federal government has yet to respond to an offer by Russia to help battle northern Alberta's giant wildfire.
Moscow has offered to send massive water bombers and firefighting specialists to help knock down the inferno around Fort McMurray.
Canadian officials have only told Russian media that the proposal is being studied.
There's been a diplomatic chill between Ottawa and Moscow since Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
But the government has indicated it wants to improve relations with the Putin government.
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Mossey River Looking for Local Bird Monitors for Red Deer Point
The birds at Red Deer Point made a good impression on the experts.
Two representatives from the Important Bird Areas program met with a group of ten people at the Mossey River Inn on Saturday, where they discussed broadening the Red Deer Point IBA and getting locals to monitor the bird activity there.
Christian Artuso and Tim Poole say the type of habitat they saw was really good for shorebirds, and they were surprised with how many they saw.
"The American avocet, the willet, the marble godwit, the least sandpiper, the lesser yellowlegs-- some of those species... they're not typical at this moment in the spring," said Poole.
The islands in the area are already considered an Important Bird Area, but Artuso says the whole bay area is obviously an important site, with significant marshes and other habitats.
Artuso says they need some data on bird counts before changing the border of the IBA. They want an active community monitoring program to take shape.
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NASA Livestreaming Mercury Transit
Mercury has begun its move across the sun -- something NASA says only happens about 13 times a century.
The last time it happened was in 2006; it will happen again in 3 years, and then not until 2032.
The transit will last about seven and a half hours, and the entirety of the journey will be viewable to the eastern U.S. and Canada, as well as most of western Europe and South America, but you need binoculars or telescopes with protective solar filters.
NASA is also livestreaming it on its website.
