Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, New Mexico Mar 9, 2024

Time is the great transformer, changing the world and all of us. For instance, this New Mexico badland—the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness—was once a lush, tropical forest. Nearly 70 million years ago, instead of twisted terrains and towering spires, this place was home to an array of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs, including armored Ankylosaurs, duck-billed Hadrosaurs, and mighty Tyrannosaurs. Today, the area is filled with wonders of a different kind, rock formations that look more like sculptures than natural phenomena. Bisti/De-Na-Zin is named after Navajo words: Bisti means "among the adobe formations," and De-Na-Zin means "standing crane," a reference to nearby rock carvings of the bird. Visitors to the Four Corners region shouldn"t miss out on this otherworldly landscape of shale and sandstone.

© Ian Shive/Tandem Stills + Motion

palette

Today in History

Mar 9, 2018The Door County Coastal Byway in Wisconsin
Mar 9, 2019Let the harvest begin
Mar 9, 2020This grizzly has Napping Day down
Mar 9, 2021Spring comes to the Diablo foothills
Mar 9, 2022Flower of Life symbol drawn in snow
Mar 9, 2023Waimea Canyon and Waipoo Falls, Kauai, Hawaii
Mar 9, 2025Daylight saving time begins
Mar 9, 2026Gray seal sleeping on the beach, Orkney Islands, Scotland

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Sep 11, 2019A tower of remembrance
Mar 12, 2026Juvenile sunbittern displaying at nest, Ecuador
Jul 28, 2018Defying gravity on a swing ride
Jan 10, 2023Lake Peipus, Estonia
Sep 8, 2019Just a couple of yellow-billed hornbills
Nov 29, 2020New Zealand s loneliest mountain
Jul 11, 2025World Population Day
Mar 14, 2023Pi Day
May 11, 2022Santorini, Greece
Jul 27, 2025Barracudas at Shark Reef, Ras Mohammed National Park, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
Nov 19, 2020That bill s just not going to fit
Oct 6, 2025Anshun Bridge, Chengdu, China
Jul 20, 2020Earthrise on Moon Day
Mar 12, 2019The otherworldly red river
Apr 7, 2024International Beaver Day
Aug 29, 2021Notes from an underground lake
Dec 17, 2025Eurasian red squirrel in Northumberland, England
Jun 6, 2022Indigo bunting
May 28, 2024The Monastery of Roussanou, Greece
Nov 1, 2023Native American Heritage Month
Oct 10, 2020Birds of a feather
Nov 1, 2024Native American Heritage Month
Apr 17, 2026International Bat Appreciation Day
Sep 27, 2021Sharp-dressed bug
Aug 31, 2022Blue linckia sea stars in Papua New Guinea
Dec 11, 2023International Mountain Day
Aug 1, 2025Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Jul 27, 2019Longer days mean warmer sand
May 8, 2024Marseille welcomes the Olympic torch
Sep 28, 2021The snows of Fuji