Valentines Day Feb. 14, 2024

Love is in the air as Valentine"s Day arrives! This holiday is often associated with various romantic symbols, such as Cupid or Romeo and Juliet, the famous star-crossed lovers of William Shakespeare. Symbols of love can also be found in nature, such as red-crowned cranes, seen today in the reed marshes and frozen lakes of Hokkaido Island, Japan. These graceful birds engage in captivating mating dances to strengthen their lifelong bond—and symbolise good fortune, longevity and fidelity in Japanese culture. These gentle creatures even inspired a traditional paper craft, the origami crane; according to legend, folding a thousand cranes can grant wishes.

© Steve Bloom Images/Alamy

palette

Today in History

Love is in the snow
Feb. 14, 2025Happy Valentines Day!
Feb. 14, 2026Happy Valentines Day!

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Oct. 16, 2024Fossils of belemnites and ammonites, Jurassic Coast, UK
Dec. 13, 2024Christmas market, St. Stephens Basilica, Budapest, Hungary
Nov. 5, 2024Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Brazil
Oct. 25, 2023Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
Dec. 16, 2025Handmade gnomes at a Christmas market
Aug. 22, 2023Amphitheatre of El Jem, Tunisia
Aug 6, 2026Edmonton Folk Festival
An oasis in a sea of sand
Aug. 19, 2024Two Atlantic puffins in Elliston
A rainbow that’s worth the rainfall
Jul. 3, 2024World Meerkat Day
Jun. 14, 2025Cinque Torri, Dolomites, Italy
Feb. 5, 2026Salt evaporation ponds on the island of Gozo, Malta
Nov. 15, 2024Yi Peng lantern festival, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Mar. 1, 2024Wheaton River, Yukon
Mar. 6, 2024Wahclella Falls, Oregon, USA
Jul. 17, 2024Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Bavaria, Germany
Nov. 15, 2023Rapa Valley in Sarek National Park, Sweden
Racing through the five boroughs
May 27, 2024Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve
Pretty in pink
Aug. 19, 2025Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Babbling on and on
Aug. 24, 2024Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, Maine, USA
Where two continents meet
Jun. 9, 2025Old City of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia, Croatia
Jan. 10, 2026The Matterhorn reflected in Lake Stellisee at sunrise, Zermatt, Switzerland
Among the cedar and spruce
Giddy family fun
Sep. 18, 2024Gujō Hachiman Castle, Gifu Prefecture, Japan