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Mount Logan in Yukon, Canada
Mount Logan in Yukon, Canada
Today we"re visiting Canada"s tallest mountain, the 19,551-foot-high Mount Logan, which is part of the St. Elias Mountain range. Located in Yukon, the smallest and westernmost of Canada"s three territories, this majestic peak is also the second tallest in North America—only Alaska"s Denali is taller.Desktop Version
Native American Heritage Month
Native American Heritage Month
Here in the Volcanic Tablelands near Bishop, California, is Sky Rock, a set of ancient petroglyphs that face the heavens. The volcanic rock formations of this area have made it a premier rock-climbing destination. But long before sport climbers flocked here, it was (and still is) home to the Paiute-Shoshone peoples, who are thought to have created these petroglyphs and many others throughout the tablelands.Desktop Version
Happy 800th, Salisbury Cathedral
Happy 800th, Salisbury Cathedral
We"re in the English county of Wiltshire to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Salisbury Cathedral—the towering marvel of Early English Gothic design rising behind these contentedly grazing sheep. The massive church"s first foundation stones were laid here in Salisbury—then called New Sarum—on April 28, 1220. The structure itself dates back even further, the bulk of it having been moved over a mile piece by piece from the former Roman stronghold of Old Sarum.Desktop Version
Mont-Saint-Michel
Mont-Saint-Michel
Rising majestically out of the bay, Mont-Saint-Michel is once again a true island, at least during high tides. A crude, elevated causeway built in the 19th century once connected Mont-Saint-Michel to the mainland, allowing visitors to walk across to the spectacular rock. But in 2014, the causeway was removed and replaced by an elegant, curving bridge above the tidal flats. Now water flows freely around the monument at high tide, making the tiny island fortress a real island for the first time in more than a century.Desktop Version
Birds of the Drömling
Birds of the Drömling
Common cranes (aka Eurasian cranes) often gravitate to wet open fields, bogs, and marshes. This flock is congregating in the Drömling wetland in Germany. The most widely distributed of all the 15 species of cranes, its native range covers a wide swath of Europe and Asia, with the largest breeding populations in Russia and Scandinavia. As winter approaches, common cranes make the long journey south, often in large flocks of about 400 birds, to North Africa or parts of southern Europe and Asia in search of more civilized temperatures.Desktop Version
Kawachi Fuji Garden
Kawachi Fuji Garden
Today we"re taking a trip to a Japanese purple paradise. This photo captures just one of over 22 different varieties of wisteria planted at the Kawachi Fuji Garden in Kitakyushu, Japan. Hundreds of wisteria plants were meticulously cultivated to form tunnels that bloom with shades of blue, white, purple, and pink. The walkable tunnels open into large domes of wisteria vines for visitors to sit under and bask in the fragrant flowers. An overlook gives visitors an impressive view of not only the flowers but also the surrounding valley and its bamboo groves.Desktop Version
Hut, hut, hike!
Hut, hut, hike!
Meerkats, also called suricates, are highly social animals that enjoy playing together and grooming each other. Members of the mongoose family, they live in mobs (yes, that"s what a group of meerkats is called) of 20 to 50 individuals that work together and share underground burrows to stay cool in the African heat.Desktop Version
Happy anniversary to the National Park Service!
Happy anniversary to the National Park Service!
On the National Park Service"s Founders Day, we"re here on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona peering out at the stunning vista. Can you see the rectangular hole in the canyon wall near the top of the image? That"s Angels Window. Brave hikers can make their way up to the trail above it, but the window itself is best viewed from various points along the North Rim. Far down below is the Colorado River. Beginning about 6 million years ago, it gradually carved downward through countless layers of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rock. The Colorado and its tributary streams continue to deepen and widen the Grand Canyon even today.Desktop Version
A Portuguese fort takes a star turn
A Portuguese fort takes a star turn
Perched on a strategic hillside, high above the hot, dry plains of eastern Portugal, the Nossa Senhora da Graça Fort has been called a masterpiece of 18th-century military architecture. The thick walls that surround the fortress are shaped in a star pattern, with pentagonal bastions jutting out from the curtain wall at the corners. We"re looking at one of those bastions coming to a point in the lower center of our image.Desktop Version
Under Parisian skies
Under Parisian skies
For Bastille Day, aka French National Day, we examine not the titular prison that was the site of the beginning of the French Revolution, but another building inexorably wrapped up in that powder-keg moment of French history. The dome in the upper right portion of this photo belongs to the Panthéon. Construction of the building—intended to be a church—began in 1758. But by the time it was completed in 1790, the French Revolution was in full swing and the new establishment decided that it should instead be used as a mausoleum for distinguished French citizens, which it remains today.Desktop Version
In honor of those we ve lost
In honor of those we ve lost
Today we"re featuring the view from the Empty Sky memorial in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the Hudson River, to where the World Trade Center"s Twin Towers once stood in New York City"s lower Manhattan. The Empty Sky memorial honors the 749 people from New Jersey who were killed on September 11, 2001. Their names are etched on two massive steel walls that form a tunnel directing the visitor"s gaze to one of the sites of the deadliest terrorist attack in history. The name Empty Sky comes directly from a song by New Jersey"s favorite son, Bruce Springsteen, about the "empty sky" where the Twin Towers once stood before they were destroyed in the 9/11 attacks.Desktop Version
Grab onto the handlebars, kid
Grab onto the handlebars, kid
How does a bearded tamarin celebrate Father"s Day? Maybe by giving piggyback rides to pint-sized monkeys. From day one, both male and female bearded emperor tamarin babies (like the one hitching a ride in this photo), start growing their trademark handlebar mustaches and wispy beards. These diminutive residents of the Amazon basin are highly social animals. Females often give birth to twins and stay pretty busy during the day nursing them. After the babies are fed, the males watch over the youngsters by carrying them around on their backs. By the time the young tamarins reach two months old their pops become the primary caregivers, providing food and showing the ropes of the rainforest to their young charges—where to find fruit and nectar in the dry season, how to leap from branch to branch, and the best ways to groom those outrageous mustaches and beards.Desktop Version
Taiwan yuhinas in Alishan National Scenic Area
Taiwan yuhinas in Alishan National Scenic Area
The Taiwan yuhina is a chirpy little bird with an eye-catching crest. Found only on the island of Taiwan, they constantly chatter while feeding and sometimes hang upside-down on cherry trees like bats. Birdwatchers can glimpse the small songbirds at Taiwan’s Alishan National Scenic Area, which features postcard-worthy forest trails and picturesque sunrises.Desktop Version
An improbable tribute for Towel Day
An improbable tribute for Towel Day
"Space," Douglas Adams observed in his comic sci-fi novel "The Hitchhiker"s Guide to the Galaxy," "is big. Really big. You just won"t believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you might think it"s a long way down the road to the chemist, but that"s just peanuts to space." So, in his fictional universe, Adams invented the Infinite Improbability Drive as a way to cross its vast distances in a nothingth of a second. And, in one memorable passage, to convert two approaching nuclear missiles into a bowl of petunias and a sperm whale. Thus, today"s image of the Earth"s largest toothed whale is our tribute to Adams on the 20th annual celebration of Towel Day (it"s surprisingly difficult to find a really great image of a bowl of petunias).Desktop Version
Bright and colorful peacock feathers
Bright and colorful peacock feathers
Peacock feathers, multicolored and radiant, are instantly recognizable. Their signature "eyespots" flash in the light when a male displays its tail plumage for a nearby female, known as a "peahen."Desktop Version
Monarch butterflies migrate south
Monarch butterflies migrate south
Fall sets in motion a journey of some 3,000 miles for these monarch butterflies, which migrate from southern Canada to their wintering habitat in central Mexico. There, they cluster together in fir trees, creating the illusion of orange, fluttering foliage. They’ll remain in their winter roosts until March, when the journey back north begins. But no one individual monarch will complete the full roundtrip, which exceeds the normal monarch lifespan; instead it will take four generations of monarchs to complete the full migration, each individual seemingly driven by an internal compass that guides its flight path.Desktop Version
Birds and bees, and why they re so important
Birds and bees, and why they re so important
As Pollinator Week kicks off today, we"re in Colombia witnessing what appears to be a faceoff between two pollinators. On one side, you have the bee, which takes the title as the best-known pollinator. But birds—like this lovely empress brilliant hummingbird—are excellent pollinators as well. And so are bats, beetles, and other critters that can also move pollen from plant to plant to aid pollination, giving us fruits, seeds, and the next generation of plants. So shall we call this a draw, fellas?Desktop Version
World Bamboo Day
World Bamboo Day
One of the most photographed places in Japan is this otherworldly grove of towering bamboo. The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove on the outskirts of Kyoto is surrounded by temples and shrines along the Katsura River. Rising as a manicured oasis of stories-high bamboo, the grove seems to turn the world green. The former villas and temples of the old noble class are located near the Arashiyama Grove, and its single 500-yard path is usually filled with visitors wielding cameras and selfie sticks, making this serene view a rare one.Desktop Version
A courtyard scene from Spain
A courtyard scene from Spain
For centuries people have lavishly decorated the courtyards of Córdoba, in southern Spain"s Andalusia region. Here in the San Basilio neighborhood of the city’s old town, the densely packed whitewashed houses look out onto courtyards and patios embellished by hanging flowerpots and trailing plants. The sculpture on today’s homepage, by artist José Manuel Belmonte, pays homage to the caretakers who pass along the tradition.Desktop Version
Autumn comes to Old Town
Autumn comes to Old Town
The medieval center of Bern, Switzerland"s capital, looks much as it did when most of these buildings were first constructed between the 12th and the 15th centuries. What"s now called Old Town was founded in 1191 on a long, narrow peninsula surrounded on three sides by the Aare River. As Bern grew over the centuries, it erected defensive walls and moats only to tear them down again with each successive wave of expansion. In their place are now broad public spaces for outdoor cafes and markets, like the Zibelemärit (Onion Market), an annual fall tradition.Desktop Version
3,000 years of history
3,000 years of history
These massive temples—known today as Abu Simbel—were built in the 13th century BCE by the pharaoh Ramesses II. He left a legacy of monuments and temples across Egypt, many of which, like Abu Simbel, featured Ramesses II himself as the star attraction. But over the centuries, these temples were almost completely buried in sand and forgotten. It was not until the early 1800s when an explorer saw the heads of the colossal statues poking through the sand that the temples were again discovered. Then in the 20th century, construction of a dam on the Nile River formed Lake Nasser, a massive reservoir that would have flooded the site where the temples stood. To save them from inundation, the temples were disassembled and relocated to a nearby hill. The process took almost five years and required that workers cut the temples into pieces and reassemble them exactly as they were built 3,000 years ago. We think Ramesses II would approve.Desktop Version
Lake Tai s cherry trees in bloom
Lake Tai s cherry trees in bloom
The tranquil appearance of Lake Tai belies its location within Wuxi, China, a metropolis of 7.5 million people in southern Jiangsu province. A short distance to the east is the megacity of Shanghai. But city life feels a world away here at China"s third-largest freshwater lake. More than 20 miles across in places, Lake Tai provides a needed retreat from urban life, drawing locals and tourists to its picturesque shores.Desktop Version
Oymyakon, Russia
Oymyakon, Russia
Oymyakon, Russia, is one of a few places claiming to be the coldest spot in the Northern Hemisphere, a northern "Pole of Cold." Centuries of evolving meteorological technology means some historic cold temperatures are considered more accurate than others. The record for ultimate cold is a hot debate.Desktop Version
Feeling lazy? Today s your day.
Feeling lazy? Today s your day.
Isn"t it odd that many of us don"t have to work on Labor Day, but International Sloth Day is just another Wednesday? If you"re moving slowly today, that"s just fine: You"re outpacing today"s homepage subject, which spends 90% of its time scarcely moving a muscle.Desktop Version
Just another day in paradise
Just another day in paradise
It takes some effort to reach the stunning Nā Pali Coast on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Located on the island"s northwest side and stretching about 16 miles, Nā Pali isn"t accessible by car. You have to hike in, fly in by helicopter, or come at it from the sea by boat. In the summer, when the waves are calm, you can explore the rugged coast by kayak, but you"ll need a solid supply of muscle power for the sometimes-grueling paddle. If you seek a gentler approach—and if COVID restrictions allow—book a boat trip to explore the interiors of the sea caves that dot the shore. Today, we"re looking down on the Bright Eye sea cave, one of several caves on the Nā Pali Coast that lost their ceilings to the pounding of the sea.Desktop Version