The San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado are the largest mountain range in the state and contain some of the highest and most jagged summits in the continental United States. They also receive the highest snowfall levels in the state due to moisture blown in from the Pacific Ocean. The annual snowfall at Wolf Creek Pass (elevation 10,850 feet) averages about 400 inches (10 m) and sometimes exceeds 600 inches (15 m).

A brightly coloured bird, the golden-browed chlorophonia is distinctive within its range. The male is bright green above and yellow below, with a wide golden-yellow eyebrow stripe and a violet-blue cap. It has a narrow blue eye ring and a thin blue line extending from its nape to its breast. The female is similar, but without the golden brown and yellow breast; these are both replaced with green. They average 13 cm (5.1 in) in length.

Not liked by the average person but some species of blow fly can help forensic scientise pin down the time of death of a body by looking at the size of the maggots. Some species can live for several months or even a year if overwintering. Here you can see the extended mouth part called the pseudo trachea and at the end what looks a bit like a mop is a device that consist of many tubes. Through these tubes the fly will gulp its stomach contents over the food to help digest and turn the food into a liquid to be swallowed up. Which reminds me where did I put my last large slice of Victoria Sponge as I'm very hungry now !

Cattleya lawrenceana is an epiphytic species with a lush plant, claviculated pseudobulbs of 20 centimeters in height and bearing a leaf of 20 centimeters in length, oblong-lanceolate, thick and with a crease in the central part. Flowers 12 centimeters long, with narrow petals and sepals, pink to violet-magenta. Pointed lip, purplish-purple. It comes from Serra da Neblina, state of Roraima, Brazil. It blooms in late fall or winter.

The cattleya orchid normally blooms only once a year and its flowers last an average of 10 to 30 days. But if it is well cared for and fertilized correctly, it may have a second flowering in some species.

The Bateleur is a colourful species with a very short tail which, together with its white underwing coverts, makes it unmistakable in flight. The tail is so small the bird's legs protrude slightly beyond the tail during flight.

The average adult Bateleur is 55 to 70 cm long with a 186 cm wingspan. The wing chord averages approximately 51 cm. Adult weight is ±2 to 2.6kg.

(Punda Maria, Kruger National Park, RSA)

Many thanks to everyone who chooses to leave a comment or add this image to their favorites, it is much appreciated.

Have a great weekend.

©Elsie van der Walt, all rights reserved. Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. If you are interested in using one of my images, please send me an E-mail (elsie.vdwalt@gmail.com).

Photomontage created from five photos of ice formations in the frozen surface of Lime Lake. The lake is frozen to an average depth of 7 inches.

Image designed by and intended for viewing with ChromaDepth 3D glasses.

l'homme a échoué dans sa lutte contre le réchauffement climatique, loin des 1,5 la hause moyenne est de 3°, les canicules se succèdent à une fréquence jamais vu, l'augmentation du niveau de la mer est de 60cm en moyenne, même à marée basse le mont est entouré d'eau ..

man has failed in his fight against global warming, far from 1.5 the average height is 3 °, heat waves follow one another at an unprecedented frequency, the increase in sea level is 60cm on average, even at low tide the mountain is surrounded by water.

Residence Jannum has a total area of ​​308 hectares, of which 302 is land and 6 is water (100 hectares is 1 km2). Residence Jannum has 26 unique addresses. The average density of addresses is 9 addresses per km2. 22 households live there and there are a total of 23 homes.

Water Nymph's Dell, Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains, Sydney.

A long and slippery wet walk down a steep "track" leads to this beautiful waterfall making the journey well worthwhile.

As we have had some decent rain here in Sydney this year, and particularly just recently, it was time to get out to the waterfalls and take advantage of the conditions. We are in a La Nina year meaning above average rainfall for much of Eastern Australia, which is in stark contrast to the last few years where we had drought caused by El Nino weather event. I must say, I love the rain!

'Small, average, large...' On White

An active thunderstom over Louisville CO shows off its inner glow with multiple cloud to cloud lightning strikes. An airplane flying towards the storm makes a turn away as indicated by the the line of double dots in the lower left quadrant. The orange-y glow in the sky is from the lights of Denver to the right.

Thunderstorms have been abundant thus far in eastern Colorado, even before the arrival of the t-storm season associated with the summer monsoon. Precipitation is already around 80% of the annual average with half the year to go.

They are amazing.

At an average altitude of 2,400 meters above sea level.

Average this - average that

average ----- NO!

Her beauty is held

within a moments arch

that spans cold air.

Great blue herons are one of the most beautiful birds in America. The male and female look almost exactly the same. On average, males are a little larger with longer ornamental plumes, but these distinctions are so slight and variable that it’s hard to see the difference

my colour palette!

shot by KHWD, lake geneva, on our way across the border to geneva in switzerland

want to see more images or read the blog?

www.motorhome-travels.net/post/blog-71-french-holiday-2014

Lake Geneva, known as Lac Léman in French, is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Europe. It is located on the border between Switzerland and France, surrounded by the stunning Alps and Jura mountains1. The lake is crescent-shaped, with the longer northern shore in Switzerland and the southern shore in France.

Here are some interesting facts about Lac Léman:

Size: It spans about 73 km (45 mi) in length and 14 km (8.7 mi) in width.

Depth: The average depth is 154.4 meters, with the deepest point reaching 310 meters.

Water Source: The main source of the lake is the Rhône River, which enters near Villeneuve and exits in Geneva.

Scenic Views: The lake offers spectacular vistas, especially from the northern side towards the south and far west, where the Alpine mountains are close to the shores.

It's a popular destination for tourists, offering activities like boating, hiking, and wine tasting in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed vineyards of Lavaux

Beautiful British Columbia

Canada

~C

Pitt Lake is the second-largest lake in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. About 53.5 square kilometres in area, it is about 25 km long and about 4.5 km wide at its widest. It is one of the world's relatively few tidal lakes, and among the largest. In Pitt Lake, there is on average a three foot tide range; thus Pitt Lake is separated from sea level and tidal waters during most hours of each day during the 15 foot tide cycle of the Pitt River and Strait of Georgia estuary immediately downstream.The lake's southern tip is 20 km upstream from The Pitt River confluence with the Fraser River and is 40 km east of Downtown Vancouver.

Pitt Lake is in a typical U-shaped glacial valley in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. The overdeepening of the lower end of the valley over the span of the Wisconsin glaciation created a trough over 140 m below current sea level. After initial glacial retreat at around 13,000 years ago a saltwater fjord occupied this basin when relative sea levels were still ca 120 to 140m above current levels in the region. Unlike neighbouring Indian Arm and Howe Sound farther west, this fjord basin became partly cut off from tidal waters by sedimentation of the lower Fraser River ca 10,500 years ago, and Pitt Lake is now considered a tidal fjord lake.

Pitt Lake is the second largest of a series of north-south oriented fjord-lakes incising the southern slopes of the Pacific Ranges, the largest being Harrison Lake located 60 km to the east. The other fjord-lakes include Coquitlam Lake, Alouette Lake, Stave Lake, and Chehalis Lake.

The Pitt River drains into the northern end of Pitt Lake. The western shore of Pitt Lake are protected within Pinecone Burke Provincial Park, while most of the eastern shore are protected within Golden Ears Provincial Park. The southern end of Pitt Lake features an extensive marshland called Pitt Polder. While most of this marshland has since been drained for agricultural use, the northernmost portion is strictly protected in order to provide critical habitat for migratory birds.

Communities

The community of Pitt Meadows and the First Nations reserve of Pitt Lake Indian Reserve 5 are located at the southern end of the lake. Just southwest of the lake is the community of Port Coquitlam, which is across the Pitt River from Pitt Meadows. At the north end of the lake is a locality named Alvin, which is a transport and shipping point for logging companies and their employees.

Wikipedia

A special thanks to all my Flickr friends and visitors, for taking the time to view and acknowledge my photography.

Happy Clicks,

~Christie (happies) by the River

** Best experienced full screen

Houston Texas USA

The historic taxonomic status of Harlan's hawk has been quite erratic, sometimes it has been classified as its own species, B. harlani to the opposite extreme that R. S. Palmer (1988) classified as it (perhaps improbably) as a mere western color morph. Most modern authorities recognize as a valid subspecies. Harlan's hawk is markedly different from all other red tails and can be identified nearly 100% of the time by an experienced hawk watcher. Throughout the morphs of this subspecies, the plumage is predominantly blackish, lacking any warmer or brownish tones (save the tail). Harlan's hawks usually have faint streaks on the sides of their head and about their chest with a little gray mottling or speckling on the scapulars. Apart from a variably white-streaked throat, their underparts are usually mostly black with variable white streaking and barring on the thighs or crissum. There are up to four main variations from the typical one above: extreme dark morph (where even the throat is black and no pale streaking is present), dark morph (with barring still present from the tarsus to the underside), rare pale morph (with few blackish blobs on the belly and generally a whiter head) and perhaps even rarer types where the base color is grayish. Unlike most red-tailed hawks, generally immatures are similar enough than adults that it can be difficult to distinguish them. On average, immatures have more extensive pale streaking above and mottling below, but much individual variation has been recorded. The typical tail of a Harlan's hawk is white with a thick black subterminal band but individuals may vary considerable and the tail may be reddish, dusky, whitish or gray and can be longitudinally streaked, mottled or barred.

This lovely lass was happy to pose while she had her after lunch preen.

With an average body height of four feet and wing length of nine feet, the American White Pelican gives off a dino vibe.

While gangly on land, their soaring abilities are amazing and they know how to use the air currents both in their migrations as well as in daily flight.

This one passed directly over me as I fired off several shots.

Here's a link to 10 Fun Facts About Pelicans :)

www.mentalfloss.com/article/515654/10-fun-facts-about-pel...

18-march-2022: the perpetual alternation between low and high tide, more marked precisely in this area where the tidal masses are channeled along the entire narrow Adriatic Sea, has greater variation in conjunction with the days around the full moon and the new moon.

It is therefore an astronomical phenomenon, but that Weather Patterns can alter, even massively.

In "my area", for most of the winter and with a peak in March, there were numerous extreme low tides and minimal high tides, this due to the over 1040hpas of adiabatic pressure and the continuous currents prevailing from the East or North-East.

So, every +1hpas over the terrestrial average pressure (gravity) value of 1013hpas corresponds to 1cm less in the level of that sea placed under the adiabatic pressure of the anticyclone and obviously vice versa in case of decreasing pressure.

The north-eastern currents tend to move the water masses towards the West and then towards the South following the anti-clockwise current that goes up the Adriatic along the Dalmatian coast and descends it from the Italian side.

All these factors "empty" the Gulf of Trieste which is also the Northernmost Spot of the entire Mediterranean Sea!

The exact opposite occurs with Low Pressure and the activation of persistent "long currents" from the South or South/East, in which cases not only Venice ends up under the surface of the Northern Adriatic Sea.

This lizard was basking in the sunshine, Arne RSPB reserve Dorset. It's a male in its breeding colours.

According to Wildlife Trust website:

The sand lizard is extremely rare due to the loss of its sandy heath and dune habitats. Reintroduction programmes have helped establish new populations.

Restricted to a few isolated areas in Dorset (my home county), Hampshire, Surrey and Merseyside. Reintroduced into other areas in the South East, South West and Wales.

Statistics

Length: 20cm

Weight: 15g

Average lifespan: up to 20 years

Conservation status

Protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework. Listed as a European Protected Species under Annex IV of the European Habitats Directive.

When to see

April to October

Landscape of Tibet

Tibet is the highest country on earth with an average elevation of over 4000m. The lowest regions of Tibet are still over 2000m above sea level with Jomo Langma (Everest,Sagarmatha) ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ being the highest point at 8848m. Tibet is covered in grasslands, mountains and valleys.

Many of Asia’s largest rivers have their headwaters in Tibet such as the Ma chu རྨ་ཆུ་ ( Yellow River), Dri chu འབྲི་ཆུ་ (Yangtze), Nag chu ནག་ཆུ་ - རྒྱ་མོ་རྔུལ་ཆུ (Salween), Yarlung Tsangpo ཡར་ཀླུངས་གཙང་པོ་ (Brahmaputra) and Dza chu རྫ་ཆུ་ (Mekong). Western Tibet (Ngari) is a high, arid region with few people, while southeast Tibet (Kham) is forested and suitable for farming. Northern Tibet (Amdo) is covered in vast grasslands filled with yaks and sheep and central Tibet (U-Tsang) is the most densely populated area of Tibet lying along the fertile Yarlung Valley.

www.landofsnows.com/los/Landscape.html

Common kestrels measure 32–39 cm (13–15 in) from head to tail, with a wingspan of 65–82 cm (26–32 in). Females are noticeably larger, with the adult male weighing 136–252 g (4.8–8.9 oz), around 155 g (5.5 oz) on average; the adult female weighs 154–314 g (5.4–11.1 oz), around 184 g (6.5 oz) on average. They are thus small compared with other birds of prey, but larger than most songbirds. Like the other Falco species, they have long wings as well as a distinctive long tail.

Their plumage is mainly light chestnut brown with blackish spots on the upperside and buff with narrow blackish streaks on the underside; the remiges are also blackish. Unlike most raptors, they display sexual colour dimorphism with the male having fewer black spots and streaks, as well as a blue-grey cap and tail. The tail is brown with black bars in females, and has a black tip with a narrow white rim in both sexes. All common kestrels have a prominent black malar stripe like their closest relatives.

The cere, feet, and a narrow ring around the eye are bright yellow; the toenails, bill and iris are dark. Juveniles look like adult females, but the underside streaks are wider; the yellow of their bare parts is paler. Hatchlings are covered in white down feathers, changing to a buff-grey second down coat before they grow their first true plumage. Kestrels don’t lay all their eggs at once. They lay eggs every few days to increase the chance of at least some of them surviving. It’s the female that

incubates them, while the male brings food. The young can be capable of leaving the nest by the end of summer.

Wahiba Sands Desert, Oman, April 2023

Because of heavy rainfalls the waterlevel was much higher then average. So unfortunately I couldn't make it to the nice turquoise pools with my gear. This is just an impression of the surrounding.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED

www.instagram.com/oguzkhanceyhan/

© 2012-2023 Oguzhan Ceyhan. All rights reserved.

Joychandi Pahar reaches an average height of about 155 m (≈ 509 ft) above sea level, part of the Chota Nagpur Plateau landscape

To reach the summit, visitors must ascend roughly 500–520 stone steps. At the top, you'll find the Chandi Mata Temple and a Hanuman shrine, both maintained with ongoing local rituals

A curious feature at the summit is a miniature water reserve carved in rock, said to be filled with "tears of Sita" and believed to be eternally replenishing and medicinal. There's also a rocky outcrop known locally as the “Bagher Dera” (tiger’s den)

Moon canyon, Kazakhstan

Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus (M)

(Double click)

The common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel, or Old World kestrel. In Britain, where no other kestrel species occurs, it is generally just called "the kestrel".

This species occurs over a large range. It is widespread in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as occasionally reaching the east coast of North America.

Kestrels can hover in still air, even indoors in barns. Because they face towards any slight wind when hovering, the common kestrel is called a "windhover" in some areas.

Unusual for falcons, plumage often differs between male and female, although as is usual with monogamous raptors the female is slightly larger than the male. This allows a pair to fill different feeding niches over their home range. Kestrels are bold and have adapted well to human encroachment, nesting in buildings and hunting by major roads. Kestrels do not build their own nests, but use nests built by other species.

Their plumage is mainly light chestnut brown with blackish spots on the upperside and buff with narrow blackish streaks on the underside; the remiges are also blackish. Unlike most raptors, they display sexual colour dimorphism with the male having fewer black spots and streaks, as well as a blue-grey cap and tail. The tail is brown with black bars in females, and has a black tip with a narrow white rim in both sexes. All common kestrels have a prominent black malar stripe like their closest relatives.

The cere, feet, and a narrow ring around the eye are bright yellow; the toenails, bill and iris are dark. Juveniles look like adult females, but the underside streaks are wider; the yellow of their bare parts is paler. Hatchlings are covered in white down feathers, changing to a buff-grey second down coat before they grow their first true plumage.

Data from Britain shows nesting pairs bringing up about 2–3 chicks on average, though this includes a considerable rate of total brood failures; actually, few pairs that do manage to fledge offspring raise less than 3 or 4. Compared to their siblings, first-hatched chicks have greater survival and recruitment probability, thought to be due to the first-hatched chicks obtaining a higher body condition when in the nest. Population cycles of prey, particularly voles, have a considerable influence on breeding success. Most common kestrels die before they reach 2 years of age; mortality up until the first birthday may be as high as 70%. At least females generally breed at one year of age; possibly, some males take a year longer to maturity as they do in related species. The biological lifespan to death from senescence can be 16 years or more, however; one was recorded to have lived almost 24 years.

Population:

UK breeding:

46,000 pairs

Steinhummeln sind größtenteils schwarz, das Ende des Hinterleibs ist braunrot. Männliche Steinhummeln haben eine gelbe Binde auf der Brust. Ihre Nester legen sie unter Steinhaufen oder Mauern an, worauf sich der Name bezieht. Sie können sich jedoch auch im Stroh von Ställen oder in verlassenen Vogelnestern befinden. Ein durchschnittlicher Staat besteht aus etwa 100 bis 200 Arbeiterinnen. Steinhummeln bevorzugen den Nektar von verschiedenen Kleearten und Taubnesseln.

Stone bumblebees are largely black, the end of the abdomen is brownish red. Male stone bumblebees have a yellow band on their chest. They lay their nests under piles of stones or walls, which is what the name refers to. However, they can also be found in the straw of stables or in abandoned bird nests. An average state consists of around 100 to 200 women workers. Stone bumblebees prefer the nectar of various species of clover and dead nettle.

(Glaucidium cuculoides)

Mandal

Uttarakhand

Índia

We were photographing the species that appeared when the guide excitedly told us that an owlet was vocalizing. Since we hadn't photographed an owlet before, we tried with renewed enthusiasm to identify the origin of the sound, but quickly became discouraged as it seemed beyond our capacity to identify a bird that we already knew to be very small, although we had never seen one before. We refocused on what was displayed before our eyes and didn't think about it anymore.

After about 15 minutes, the guide exclaimed excitedly, "it's over there". However, even with the explanation of where to look, it was not easy and some of us took a few minutes to follow the instructions of the trunks to find this small, but beautiful, ball of feathers!

We spent another 10 minutes photographing this beauty, searching for possible angles, backgrounds, and frames. I even managed to find a second bird by myself. The difficult part is finding the first one :)

==================***==================

All my photos are now organized into sets by the country where they were taken, by taxonomic order, by family, by species (often with just one photo for the rarer ones), and by the date they were taken.

So, you may find:

- All the photos for this trip Índia (2023) (213)

- All the photos for this order STRIGIFORMES (66)

- All the photos for this family Strigidae (Estrigídeos) (61)

- All the photos for this species Glaucidium cuculoides (1)

- All the photos taken this day 2023/03/08 (16)

==================***==================

Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom, officially Hohe Domkirche St. Petrus, Latin: Ecclesia Cathedralis Sanctorum Petri, English: High Cathedral of Saint Peter) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day, currently the tallest twin-spired church at 157 m (515 ft) tall.

Construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in the 19th century and was completed, to the original plan, in 1880.

The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires. The towers for its two huge spires give the cathedral the largest façade of any church in the world. The choir has the largest height to width ratio, 3.6:1, of any medieval church.

Cologne's medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and fit its role as a place of worship for the Holy Roman Emperor. Despite having been left incomplete during the medieval period, Cologne Cathedral eventually became unified as "a masterpiece of exceptional intrinsic value" and "a powerful testimony to the strength and persistence of Christian belief in medieval and modern Europe"

© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved

Street photography from Glasgow, Scotland.

Captured in September 2019 during an exercise I gave to my Street Photography Workshop for them to look for different angles and perspectives as we walked around. Of course I ensured that the person begging in the shot was suitably anonymised so that the image is for narrative and is not in any way exploitative.

I'm thinking of the millions of people currently displaced across Ukraine. Over 2 million displaced out of the country but countless millions more ran out of their homes to another part of the country, all while being under artillery and rocket fire. I cannot begin to imagine the depths of pain, despair and loss that they are feeling.

I'm also thinking of those displaced and homeless throughout the United Kingdom as a result of poverty driven by the cost of living crisis and Government policy over the past decade. My own energy prices have risen 129% overnight.

I'm also thinking of those displaced out of their homes, steadings and traditional nomadic routes in Ethiopia right now. Years and years of lower than average rainfall are now leading to a famine of the levels not seen since 1985. The building humanitarian disaster is expected to be worse than that thanks, in no small part, to the climate emergency.

We all need water, food and shelter - these basics that are essential for life should be a given in our modern world.

Today I am thinking of those who have been or are being displaced from their homes. I wish I could help more.

This lovely Short-Eared Owl (Asio flammeus) was just a few feet away the other side of the hedge. I carefully found a small gap to shoot through the foliage where the owl was illuminated by the setting sun.

Rogue Valley - Jackson County - Oregon - USA

Habitat : Open Woodlands

Food : Insects

Nesting : Tree

Behavior : Ground Forager

Conservation : Low Concern

"The quintessential early bird, American Robins are common sights on lawns across North America, where you often see them tugging earthworms out of the ground. Robins are popular birds for their warm orange breast, cheery song, and early appearance at the end of winter. Though they’re familiar town and city birds, American Robins are at home in wilder areas, too, including mountain forests and Alaskan wilderness... An American Robin can produce three successful broods in one year. On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young. Only 25 percent of those fledged young survive to November. From that point on, about half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next. Despite the fact that a lucky robin can live to be 14 years old, the entire population turns over on average every six years."

- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

A pencil lead consists of a part graphite and a part clay. The hardness of a pencil is determined by the composition of these components. Pencils with a lot of clay and little graphite have a higher hardness than pencils with little clay and a lot of graphite.

Pencils have codes that indicate the hardness. HB is an average office pencil. 9H is very hard (a lot of clay and little graphite) and 9B is very soft (a lot of graphite and little clay).

Pencils with a high degree of hardness are extremely suitable for very fine drawing, with thin lines such as technical drawing. The softer pencils are especially popular among artists for sketching, for example for creating shadows and dark areas.

www.quantore.com/advies-en-inspiratie/schrijven-en-tekene...

ice Storm, Ellenville, NY.

February 14th

You say you wanna see me

I'm thinking chocolate and flowers

We meet for breakfast

I'm feeling restless

Been gettin' ready for hours

From about 7am there were about 30 Jackdaws making such a noise flying over & around my house. According to my neighbour he could see them trying to chase off a Sparrowhawk that had taken one of the "family". The noise eventually stopped & nearly 2 hours later my husband noticed the Sparrowhawk in our garden devouring the bird.

We could only take photos through the window as we did not wish to scare it away & as we clicked it kept turning its head towards the house looking for the source of the noise. It stayed about 30 mins & then flew off with the remains of breakfast in its claws.

Statistics

Length: 33cm

Wingspan: 62cm

Weight: 150-260g

Average lifespan: 4 years

Sorry for all of you who may have already viewed several photos taken by Richard, he's just faster at editing or could it be more spare time.😉

Dactylorhiza sambucina (Orchidaceae) 116 21

The Elder-flowered Orchid (Dactylorhiza sambucina) is an herbaceous plant belonging to the family Orchidaceae. It is quite common and widespread throughout much of Europe from Portugal east to Finland and Ukraine. The flowers appear in spring and summer, in various colors from yellow to purple.

This orchid reaches on average 10–40 centimeters in height.

The inflorescence is 5–10 centimeters long and it is composed of flowers gathered in a dense spike. The flowers grow in the axils of bracts that are membranous and lanceolate-shaped. The flowers appear from mid-April to early July. Their colors vary from yellow with light reddish stains or purple speckled with darker spots on the labellum.

It prefers fresh or dry meadows (subalpine and alpine grasslands), light woods, and clearings or scrubland.

Madagascar

Tenrecs are endemic to Madagascar. Average length 5.5 inches

A fully terrestrial species of the forest floor, the lowland streaked tenrec is a specialist feeder on soft-bodied leaf litter invertebrates, including earthworms. The species is active both by day and night, and nest in fixed burrows which are commonly located near water. Latrine sites are situated near the nest entrance, which may be covered by leaves. Social groups may excavate complex interconnected burrow systems.

Social behaviour is complex, with groups consisting of over 20 related individuals, mostly the year's young accompanying four or fewer adults. Animals may forage alone or in small subgroups. When the quills are rubbed together they emit a high-pitched sound which is hypothesized to be a source of communication to other individuals.

Lowland streaked tenrecs do not go into true hibernation, but lower their body temperature and become inactive in response to adverse conditions; typically this coincides with the dry season, when temperature and food availability are at their lowest.

Who couldn't love a rodent named the Fat Sand Rat?

The Fat Sand Rat is a terrestrial mammal from the gerbil subfamily that is mostly found in North Africa and the Middle East, ranging from Mauritania to the Arabian Peninsula. This species usually lives in sandy deserts, but may also be found in rocky terrain or saline marsh areas. Fat Sand Rats are very selective in their diet, only eating stems and leaves of plants from the amaranth family. In captivity, Fat Sand Rats can become obese and rapidly develop diabetes-like symptoms when fed the diet typically given to other rodents. They have an average lifespan of 14 months in the wild and 3–4 years in captivity.

Boumalne Dades, Morocco. March 2019.

(Myiagra galeata)

Sidangoli - Halmahera - North Muluku

Indonésia

==================***==================

All my photos are now organized into sets by the country where they were taken, by taxonomic order, by family, by species (often with just one photo for the rarer ones), and by the date they were taken.

So, you may find:

- All the photos for this trip Indonésia (2025) (69)

- All the photos for this order PASSERIFORMES (3563)

- All the photos for this family Monarchidae (Monarquídeos) (19)

- All the photos for this species Myiagra galeata (1)

- All the photos taken this day 2025/08/12 (6)

==================***==================

Another laying on the banks of Marsworth while passers by point and laugh. This time for out most common duck, the tufty.

Better than the average salad.

Going to the beach in Cartagena, Colombia.

Blessed with an average temperature of 27.7ºC and 2,500 hours of brilliant Caribbean sunshine a year, pretty much every day is a good day to go to the beach in Cartagena.

Let’s be honest, the beach isn’t the best but that doesn’t stop it being the busiest during high season and at weekends.

Facing outwards from the bay of Cartagena towards the Caribbean, Bocagrande is a convenient spot to grab some rays if you don’t feel like venturing beyond the touristic heartland.

Average annual rainfall averages a little over 8 inches a year in this area. But cottonwood trees thrive in the flood plain of the San Juan River.

Happy Monochrome Monday!

Doug Harrop Photography • January 25, 1989

Average snowpack for the state of Utah on New Year's Day 2026 was only 57%. There is time for that average to improve, but the trend is for continued drought conditions.

In January of 1989, Mount Ogden was packed with an average snowfall when American President Lines containers rushed through Strawberry, not far from Doug's home in Mountain Green, Utah.