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Humming along
Humming along
Did you know that in the US, the first Saturday in September is National Hummingbird Day? You do now! And what a terrific bird to celebrate. Hummingbirds, such as the Anna"s hummingbird in this photo, are crucial to healthy ecosystems. Many flowers have evolved funnel-shaped blooms specifically to attract hummingbirds—large insects like bumblebees can’t always squeeze into these tubular blossoms. But hummingbirds can plunge their long, narrow bills deep into the blooms to find the nectar that accumulates in the base and in the process, they spread pollen from flower to flower.Desktop Version
Whales in winter
Whales in winter
Wintertime brings large numbers of humpback whales to the icy waters off the Norwegian coast, where they feed on herring and krill—and delight whale watchers with powerful leaps, tail-slaps, and glimpses into their underwater world. Male humpbacks are famous for their haunting songs, which can last up to 20 minutes and be heard over great distances underwater. Scientists aren"t sure why exactly the males sing these ballads, but some theorize it"s related to courtship. That sounds romantic enough, but ladies take note—the humpback isn"t one to settle down. It"s a migratory animal that swims up to 16,000 miles a year, traveling from southern breeding grounds to Arctic waters like these.Desktop Version
Happy birthday, Saguaro National Park
Happy birthday, Saguaro National Park
If you know what these distinctively shaped cactuses are called, you can name this patch of public land in the Sonoran Desert. Saguaro National Park was established on this day in 1994 to protect giant saguaros like these. The slow-growing, prickly behemoths have been known to reach almost 80 feet into the Arizona sky. Just don"t be tempted to climb one—take it from us, a closer look at that celestial display isn"t worth getting jabbed by 3-inch saguaro spines.Desktop Version
Love on ice
Love on ice
There"s love in the air here in Antarctica, where these Adélie penguins have congregated after a long winter at sea. October brings them ashore in search of their breeding grounds. Here they"ll pair up and grow their families, gathering in large colonies of thousands and constructing nests made of stones piled together on the shoreline. Love can be a cruel game, and these penguins are known to steal stones from other nests. But when it comes to parenting, Adélie mates make a progressive couple. Once the pair of eggs arrives, the parents will take turns keeping them warm, and both mom and dad will help raise the chicks. In March, Adélie penguins will return to sea, where they"ll spend their winter foraging among icebergs.Desktop Version
It s only Wednesday
It s only Wednesday
After looking at this adorable gray seal pup you may be surprised to learn that its Latin name translates to hooked-nose sea pig (or piglet, in this pup"s case). Over 110,000 gray seals, more than 35% of the world"s population, make their home in and around the coastal waters of the British Isles. As autumn approaches, pupping season begins, and fuzzy pups—like the one photographed here—can be spotted on the coasts and beaches of the eastern Atlantic. About a month after the seal pups are born, they"re abruptly weaned when their mothers return to the sea to hunt for food and find a new mate. The older pups then congregate for protection in groups called weaner pods. Within weeks they shed their thick pup fur and take to the sea to learn how to catch their own fish.Desktop Version
Lanterns alight in Pingxi
Lanterns alight in Pingxi
Today"s Lantern Festival marks the final day of Lunar (aka Chinese) New Year celebrations, which began back on January 25. The day of the festival is filled with dancing, firecrackers, children"s games, and food. Nighttime brings a quieter, more thoughtful way to start the new year. After sundown, celebrants may gather at a designated area to light and release paper lanterns into the dark sky. Many think of the lantern as symbolic of the "old you"—and by letting the old you go, the past is released and you can start the new year fresh. This multiple-exposure composite image shows the trail of "sky lanterns" as they"re ascending over Pingxi, a district in Taiwan.Desktop Version
A cliff-hanging complex of temples
A cliff-hanging complex of temples
Feast your eyes on the colorful Mati Si (Horse"s Hoof Temple) and its cliffside complex of sandstone grottoes and wooden pavilions. An indentation in the sandstone provides a clue to the mythical origin of the temple. One legend has it that a frightened longma—a winged dragon horse—visited here thousands of years ago and left its hoof mark in the rock as it landed. What you can"t see in our homepage image is the narrow network of tunnels cut into the cliff, connecting the seven floors and multiple grottoes to the Mati Si pagoda, which is 200 feet high and holds hundreds of Buddha statues.Desktop Version
A hero for the 21st century
A hero for the 21st century
Towering above Atlanta"s Sweet Auburn district is this 65-foot-high mural of John Lewis, the civil rights icon. What better way to celebrate Black History Month than to honor Lewis, a son of sharecroppers who carried the struggles of the civil rights movement from the Jim Crow South to the halls of Congress? An Alabama native, Lewis moved to Atlanta in 1963. He was already famous and would become even more so for leading marches, protests, and sit-ins throughout the South. Beaten by police, the KKK, and angry mobs, Lewis never wavered from his belief in nonviolent protest. He famously fought with his voice and peaceful actions, never his fists.Desktop Version
Waiting for winter
Waiting for winter
These polar bears seem to be just as happy as we are to visit Torngat Mountains National Park today. Located in Canada at the tip of the Labrador Peninsula and bordering the Labrador Sea, the park is accessible only by boat, charter plane, or helicopter. The name "Torngat" comes from the Inuktitut word "Tongait," meaning "place of spirits." The Inuit have lived here for centuries and still fish and hunt across the wide tundra valleys where these polar bears roam. This time of year, polar bears are waiting for the sea ice to form so they can venture out onto the Labrador Sea to hunt for seals.Desktop Version
Meet the slowest flirt in the animal world
Meet the slowest flirt in the animal world
We hate to break it to you, but the affable grin on this pale-throated sloth is probably not due to its laid-back lifestyle. Our adorable tree hugger looks content thanks to its facial mask and the natural shape of its mouth. Spotting one of these slow-moving solitary animals takes a little skill. The thick outer layer of a sloth"s coat is an ideal growing medium for green algae, which forms a natural camouflage in the canopy of tropical forests here in northern South America. If you do spot a pale-throated sloth it will likely be enjoying a simple meal of leaves, limbs, and tree buds. Because sloths don"t have incisors, they spend most of their waking hours smacking their lips together "to chew" their food. This would drive most animals to starvation (if not culinary madness), but the sloth"s metabolism is so slow that it"s evolved to survive on less food.Desktop Version
An historic forest
An historic forest
When explorers from Portugal landed on the shores of what is now Brazil in 1500, the Atlantic Forest, seen here, is what greeted them. Before colonization, the forest the Portuguese called ‘Mata Atlântica’ is estimated to have covered nearly 400,000 square miles, and possibly as many as 600,000. As Brazil celebrates its independence today, the Atlantic Forest is in peril--85 percent of it has been destroyed to make room for agriculture and development.Desktop Version
A tree amid the Tetons
A tree amid the Tetons
This limber pine standing alone in the sagebrush flats has a name—Old Patriarch. A favorite subject of nature photographers in Wyoming"s Grand Teton National Park, Old Patriarch is thought to be more than a thousand years old. The Cathedral Group of the Teton Mountains forms a breathtaking backdrop, bursting up from the valley floor below and stretching dramatically to the soaring peaks. The national park spreads out below the spires for 310,000 acres, featuring extraordinary wildlife, pristine lakes, and alpine terrain. Sounds like the Old Patriarch has found quite a home for himself.Desktop Version
The old guard at Old San Juan
The old guard at Old San Juan
This photo offers an uncommon view of Castillo San Felipe del Morro on the coast of Old San Juan in Puerto Rico—it’s often shown in the bright Caribbean sunlight. In September 2017, Puerto Rico was devastated by the landfall of Hurricane Maria, which wreaked havoc on the landscape, people, and livelihoods of this US territory. While Puerto Rico continues to repair, rebuild, and return to normal two years after the landfall of Maria, other parts of the Caribbean have been damaged by subsequent storms. Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas particularly hard. That island nation sits northwest of Puerto Rico, and much closer to Florida.Desktop Version
Black grouses lekking
Black grouses lekking
These showy males are squaring up in Kuusamo, Finland, a popular hang-out spot for black grouse as they take part in a flamboyant courtship ritual. They fan their tail feathers and inflate their necks while letting out a murmuring coo, hoping that a female selects them. This communal display is called lekking, and though we only see two birds here, these groups can number up to 200. Black grouse aren"t the only animals known to participate in leks—bats, paper wasps, Atlantic cod, and fiddler crabs are among the many other species which go to the same lengths to find the right mate.Desktop Version
Invisible no longer
Invisible no longer
As the calendar nears the end of Black History Month, we"re paying a visit to the memorial for American writer Ralph Ellison in New York"s Riverside Park. The 15-foot-tall bronze monolith depicts a striding, purposeful figure—or rather, the absence of a figure. For this sculpture, by artist Elizabeth Catlett, was inspired by Ellison"s most famous written work, "Invisible Man," published in 1952. The lyrical, uncompromising novel is narrated by an unnamed Black man who describes his agonizing search for identity in a society largely hostile to African Americans and blind to the suffering and indignities of the Black experience. The sculpture bears an inscription of the novel"s opening words: "I am an invisible man…I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." Widely recognized as one of the greatest American novels of the 20th century, "Invisible Man" won the National Book Award in 1953 and remains one of the most searing portraits of modern American life.Desktop Version
Hey, who’s in charge here?
Hey, who’s in charge here?
On Boss’s Day, we’re showcasing a working relationship with unusual power dynamics. The oxpecker bird and the African buffalo, while of starkly different sizes, make a good team. The oxpecker feeds exclusively while perched on the buffalo’s body, removing bothersome parasites and bugs while getting a steady supply of food for itself. Some scientists believe this to be an example of a symbiotic relationship, but others think the oxpecker behaves more like a parasite. Ah, office politics.Desktop Version
Boating on the Bojo
Boating on the Bojo
The Bojo River has been the lifeline for the people of Aloguinsan, a sparsely populated municipality of Cebu province in the Philippines. This region of Cebu only recently became a tourist destination when locals started offering cruises along the Bojo in small, outrigger-style boats like the one seen in this photo. Even with this new industry boosting the local economy over the past few years, Aloguinsan remained an out-of-the-way spot for tourists—larger towns and cities nearby still attracted more visitors. But the remoteness of the Bojo was always part of the selling point: Visitors who made the effort to come take a ride down the river would get taste of the quiet life in the fishing villages along the banks.Desktop Version
Strolling across the Red Lagoon
Strolling across the Red Lagoon
Let"s fly down to the Southern Hemisphere to enjoy a summer day at the Laguna Colorada in the southwestern corner of Bolivia. Also called the Red Lagoon, this 23-square-mile shallow salt lake sits at about 14,000 feet above sea level within the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve in the Andes. At various times of the year, it can turn the shade of tomato soup due to microscopic red algae and sediments. During the rainy season from December to April, scores of flamingos flock to the area to dip their comb-like bills into the water to filter out delicious plankton and algae. You can find three of the six types of flamingos here—the Chilean, Andean, and the world"s largest population of the endangered James"s flamingo, once thought to be extinct.Desktop Version
Wild garlic in bloom at Hainich National Park, Germany
Wild garlic in bloom at Hainich National Park, Germany
These pristine, white blooms are wild garlic plants, probably not what comes to mind when you think of flowers. You can get a closer look if you visit the Hainich National Park in Thuringia, Germany. This national park was founded in 1997 to protect its ancient beech forest, which is full of lush deciduous trees.Desktop Version
International Polar Bear Day
International Polar Bear Day
Today we celebrate International Polar Bear Day to spotlight efforts that protect these charismatic but vulnerable animals. Perhaps no other creature is as emblematic of climate change as polar bears, the apex predator of the Arctic. As the planet warms, their fragile habitat shrinks.Desktop Version
What a twist
What a twist
No, it"s not a sci-fi movie set—but maybe it should be. The Twist seems like an intrusion from the future amidst the dense woods and preserved historical buildings of Jevnaker, Norway, home to the Kistefos Museum"s sculpture park. The Twist is a bridge, but also an art gallery. Its unique construction features straight slats set at increasing angles as one moves toward the center—"like a stack of books," as its architects at the Bjarke Ingels Group describe it—to create a 90-degree turn where a wall becomes the ceiling and vice versa.Desktop Version
Love blossoms
Love blossoms
Today marks the first day of National Wildflower Week, so we"re shining a light on fireweed—a ‘weed’ in name only and a wildflower that’s a welcome sight wherever it grows. This tall, willowy perennial is a pioneer species, which means it"s often among the first plants to colonize an area cleared by fire or other damaging events. Native to temperate zones in the Northern Hemisphere, fireweed thrives along streams, roadsides, and forests, creating stunning blankets of pink in open meadows.Desktop Version
Summer winds down in the Southern Hemisphere
Summer winds down in the Southern Hemisphere
As we in the Northern Hemisphere prepare to greet spring, many in Australia are probably looking forward to the end of a punishing summer. Relatively temperate autumn weather must come as a relief to our friends Down Under. Some are likely greeting the change in seasons with a trip to the pool, like the swimmers in today"s image of the Bronte Baths, an ocean pool located in a Sydney suburb. While seaside swimming pools aren"t unique to Australia, this island country is known for its many oceanside pools, which provide sheltered spots for swimming in places where rocky shorelines and occasional shark attacks can make ocean swimming difficult or dangerous.Desktop Version
Trunks stick together
Trunks stick together
In honor of Cousins Day, we"re looking at a pair of African elephants who seem to have nothing but love for each other. Elephants are matriarchal, meaning they live in female-led groups. The matriarch—usually the biggest and oldest female—leads an extended family group that includes aunts, sisters, and their young, so a given herd is likely to be full of cousins.Desktop Version
Diving into the underwater nirvana
Diving into the underwater nirvana
Indonesia"s Wakatobi National Park protects one of the most diverse underwater environments in the world. Around 400 species of coral are found in these pristine waters, and they"re home to a staggering variety of marine life, including dolphins, whales, turtles, and hundreds of species of fish. The park was established in 2002, preserving more than 5,000 square miles, most of which is covered by coral reefs. In fact, the barrier reef here is second in size only to the Great Barrier Reef and is so full of life that famed oceanographer and explorer Jacques Cousteau is said to have called it an "underwater nirvana." Many others have followed in Cousteau"s wake, and Wakatobi has become a preeminent destination for diving and snorkeling.Desktop Version