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Sep 4, 2021Humming 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

Apr 20, 2018No, it s not a leaf. Happy Look-alike Day

Did our homepage image make you do a doubletake? That’s what this copycat had in mind. You’re looking at a leaf insect, a highly skilled mimic that lives in the rainforests of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Its camouflaged appearance helps it blend right in with the foliage it likes to frequent, protecting the bug from predators like birds and reptiles. Even its gait is deceptive—the leaf insect rocks back and forth when moving, much like the swaying of a leaf in the breeze.Desktop Version

Nov 2, 2020Waiting 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

Jan 24, 2020Sunlight sets Iceland s Eyjafjallajökull aglow

This is the sun-soaked ice cap of Iceland"s Eyjafjallajökull. Remember the name? It"s that unpronounceable volcano that made you miss your connecting flight back in 2010. That eruption and the vast ash cloud it belched over the North Atlantic was the biggest disruption to air traffic since World War II. And this relatively small but volatile island may yet waylay the world again: Eyjafjallajökull is a lightweight among the 32 active volcanic systems dotting the Land of Fire and Ice—its much larger neighbor Katla has been closely monitored since the 2010 incident.Desktop Version

Aug 6, 2020Space-age style by the sea

This pod-like structure near the seaside resort of Binz, on the Pomeranian coast of northeast Germany, provides a snapshot into a different era, delivered by the architect Ulrich Müther. Originally a lifeguard tower, it was constructed in 1968 in a style known as shell architecture using an innovative thin, poured-concrete material. Müther designed and built roughly 70 buildings in this manner, many of them here on the island of Rügen, where he lived. His work is regarded as some of the most outstanding examples of architecture in the region.Desktop Version

Jun 6, 2018Feature Attraction: 85 years at the drive-in

Our photo today shows patrons driving through the box office at the Fly-In Drive-In Theater in Wall Township, New Jersey, in 1948. Drive-in movie theaters were a growing trend at the time, so the owners of this spot took advantage of the nearby airstrip and added room for 15 small planes to taxi in and watch the show alongside the autos.Desktop Version

Sep 1, 2019Bidding summer adieu

Today, on the traditional end of the French summer season, we"re featuring the wild beauty of the Gorges du Tarn, a canyon formed by the Tarn River in south central France. The Tarn Gorge is about 33 miles long and, at points, almost 2,000 feet deep. It"s a popular spot for tourists, especially kayakers and rock climbers. History buffs also find much to explore, including the castles and villages built along—or even carved into—the canyon walls, like Castelbouc in today"s image.Desktop Version

Jul 5, 2021How green is my valley

Cabo Verde ("Green Cape") celebrates its independence today. Located about 350 miles off the western coast of Africa, the country consists of 10 volcanic islands. We"re looking at the Serra da Malagueta mountain range in the northern part of the island of Santiago, which is protected as a national park. At nearly 3,500 feet, it"s the highest point of northern Santiago and offers views of nearby Fogo and Maio islands, as well as diverse plants and wildlife.Desktop Version

Jul 4, 2019It s Independence Day

Join us in marveling at this pyrotechnical display from the shores of Lake Union in Seattle, which hosts each Independence Day a grand spectacle of fireworks soaring up to 1,000 feet into the sky, all synchronized to music. Chances are there’s something similar happening this evening where you live. All across the United States on July 4, we come together as a nation to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, one of the best break-up letters ever written. In it, the Second Continental Congress puts Great Britain on notice that the 13 American colonies are no longer subject to its rules or rulers and instead have formed a new country, the United States of America. Declaration signers, recognizing the importance of the moment and the message, anticipated that generations later, we would remember and celebrate "from one end of this continent to the other."Desktop Version

Oct 7, 2018Room at the top?

In the Catalonian tradition of castelling, common sense is just as important as strength. Competitors use their bodies to carefully build human towers—lifting and holding each other in structures that can reach eight or nine people tall. The tradition is recorded as far back as 1712 in the city of Valls and over time, it’s become an important symbol of Catalonian pride. In the 1980s, when women were allowed to join the formerly all-male competitions, the towers became lighter and taller as a result, and castelling reached what many consider its golden age.Desktop Version

Dec 5, 2018’Chess on ice’

Officially, summer began on December 1 here in New Zealand (where the first days of March, June, September, and December respectively are considered the start of autumn, winter, spring, and summer). But this icy view of Naseby, on New Zealand’s South Island, shows that harsh winters here offer great conditions for outdoor curling, or what competitors call ‘chess on ice.’ And when there’s a multi-game tournament going on, that’s a ‘bonspiel’ in curling lingo. This year marks the first ever Curling World Cup. The second leg of the four-leg event brings the curlers to Omaha, Nebraska, today through December 9. Canada’s teams won the first leg, in Suzhou, China. Will they face stiffer competition in the Cornhusker State?Desktop Version

Aug 21, 2019Look before you leap

There’s no rest for the wildebeest, especially as it crosses the crocodile-infested Mara River between Kenya and Tanzania, shown here. Each year, as many as 1.5 million blue wildebeest move through this region following seasonal rains. The annual migration is one of the world’s great wildlife spectacles, a journey that will take the wildebeest some 800 miles, as they seek out lush, green grass and fresh water. August often finds the herd here in the northern Serengeti Plains, a favorite destination for safari-goers who will also see some 200,000 zebras—as well as smaller numbers of gazelles and elands—that accompany the herd. The great number of animals makes this phenomenon one of the largest land migrations on Earth, often called the ‘world cup of wildlife.’Desktop Version

Oct 29, 2020Let s get lost

Welcome to Mazezilla! This 11-acre corn maze in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania boasts a unique design each fall. Don"t worry, if you take a wrong turn, you won"t be lost forever. "Corn helpers" are scattered throughout the maze to help confused maze-goers find their way again, and "tower people" keep a watchful eye over them. This year, visitors to the maze are asked to wear masks, stay at least 6 feet apart, and take other precautions, but organizers are still promising a "spooktacular 2020."Desktop Version

Jun 13, 2019A unique elephant encounter in Nantes

Created by François Delarozière, Pierre Orefice, and their team of artists and engineers at La Machine Company workshop, the Grand Éléphant was the first of three artworks/attractions constructed for the Machines de l’île (Machines of the Isle) in Nantes. The elephant is a mechanical sculpture that’s so big it can take up to 49 passengers for a 45-minute walk. After unveiling the elephant in 2007 and the Carrousel des Mondes Marins (Marine World Carousel) in 2012, they"re now working on an ambitious third project, L’Arbre aux Hérons (Tree of Herons), scheduled for 2022. The efforts of these visionary creators have turned a shuttered industrial shipyard on the Loire River into a unique place where art, architecture, tourism, and urban planning come together to delight all who visit.Desktop Version

Dec 4, 2021Cheetah mother and cub

Today we"re in Kenya"s Masai Mara National Reserve to celebrate Wildlife Conservation Day, which also happens to be International Cheetah Day—two reasons to extend our appreciation for this elegant mother and cub. These lithe and lightweight cats are built for speed, with compact heads, thin torsos, and long legs that help them accelerate up to 70 mph when hunting gazelles or antelopes on the savannah. Because cheetahs have uniquely flexible spines, they"re able to make sharp, sudden turns, even during a high-speed chase. Individual cheetahs tend to avoid one another, but a cub like this one will stay with its mother for about 18 months, and a female cub may stick with mom into adulthood. Some males are territorial and will form small groups, called coalitions, to defend a prized area.Desktop Version

Dec 20, 2019Tree of many colors

Hold the tinsel—the rainbow eucalyptus tree doesn"t need decorations to appear festive for the holidays. Its bark displays a palette of bright colors by design. As older layers of bark peel away in strips, new layers packed with green chlorophyll are revealed. These exposed areas eventually transition to hues of blue, purple, and orange as tannins accumulate. The continual peeling allows the tree to shed mosses, lichen, fungi, or parasites along with the bark, while also exposing the chlorophyll underneath, which boosts the tree"s ability to photosynthesize. The bark isn"t the only unusual thing about this species. While most people associate eucalyptus with koalas and Australia, the rainbow eucalyptus is native to the Philippines and Indonesia. It thrives in tropical climates like Hawaii, where our homepage trees were photographed.Desktop Version

Jul 11, 2021Why, aloe there

Aloe isn"t just that itch-relief ooze you buy at the supermarket. Aloes are some of the most splendid succulent plants in nature, coming in many shapes and colors. While the rubbery, gel-filled leaves of most aloe plants are long and spear-shaped, those of the pictured Aloe polyphylla species are stout and tightly set—one of many examples in nature of a near-perfect spiral. Commonly called spiral aloe, it"s a coveted garden plant with specific growing conditions that make it hard to keep alive. Even in nature it"s rare and native only to the chilly mountains of Lesotho, a tiny kingdom entirely surrounded by South Africa.Desktop Version

Jun 18, 2020Boating 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

Oct 9, 2020Falling for Tennessee

Although it might not look like it in this image of a tranquil fall day, Roaring Fork in Great Smoky Mountains National Park has earned its ferocious name. The stream descends 2,500 feet over just 2 miles—a steep drop. After heavy rains, Roaring Fork transforms into a whitewater rush, the sound echoing off the mountainsides. But during drier spells, the stream quiets to more of a babbling brook, as seen here along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. The popular 5.5-mile loop drive passes waterfalls, well-preserved historic log cabins, and scenic overlooks of a forest that during this time of year reaches its fall color peak, exploding in bold yellows, oranges, and reds. These are just some of the things that make Great Smoky Mountains the most popular national park in the country.Desktop Version

Sep 25, 2021Autumn comes to the Porcupines

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, in Michigan"s Upper Peninsula, is considered one of the few remaining large wilderness areas in the Midwest. Visitors can follow the park"s Escarpment Trail, seen here, up to striking viewpoints of popular attractions in the park, like Lake of the Clouds and the Upper Carp River Valley. And in autumn, when this photo was taken, hikers are treated to a kaleidoscope of foliage as the hardwood forest canopy alights with fall color.Desktop Version

Jul 8, 2020It 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

Jul 16, 2019Hemingway’s Keys

We’re in Key West, Florida, for Hemingway Days, the annual celebration of beloved local hero and author, Ernest Hemingway. The Nobel Prize winner was also an adventurer and outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and drinking here—in addition to working on several books including ‘To Have and Have Not,’ which takes place in the coastal town. And no trip to Key West today is complete without visiting the Spanish Colonial that he called home. Built in 1851, Hemingway lived here in the 1930s. Though the house was in disrepair when he and his second wife, Pauline, took ownership, the two restored the home and even installed a swimming pool—at the time the only in-ground pool in 100 miles. The house is now a National Historic Landmark and museum.Desktop Version

May 9, 2020Here’s looking at you, teachers

We think the wise, scholarly owl makes a fine mascot for Teacher Appreciation Week, which wraps up today in the US. The annual celebration honors educators who dedicate their lives to developing the minds of young and old, sparking curiosity and encouraging us to explore and think about the world around us. The celebration has a special significance this year, as teachers facing widespread school closures have quickly adapted their teaching methods, including the extensive implementation of remote learning. We"re eternally grateful for their efforts, including the support they"ve given the parents who are stepping up at home.Desktop Version

Jun 9, 2020Gem State views

Idaho is called the Gem State for its abundance of precious and semiprecious gems, but the moniker could also apply to its many lesser-known, yet spectacular natural landmarks—hidden gems like you see on today"s homepage. This is Upper Baron Lake (foreground) and Baron Lake in the rugged Sawtooth Wilderness of central Idaho. It"s just a snippet of the nearly 5 million acres of designated wilderness that belong to the Gem State. Other highlights include Hells Canyon, the deepest river gorge in North America—at 8,000 feet deep, it surpasses even the Grand Canyon. And in southern Idaho you"ll find Shoshone Falls, which towers 45 feet higher than Niagara Falls, earning it the nickname Niagara of the West.Desktop Version

Feb 28, 2021Tough turf

Roofs of sod have sheltered mainland Scandinavians through countless winters and summers. But those who migrated from Norway"s grass-roof log cabins to this Icelandic tundra in the 9th century found none of the rich timberland of their homeland—just wispy birch forests and grassy fields. To survive the cold, they took the old turf roof concept and built on it, encasing not only the roofs but the walls of their birch-framed homes in layers of living, insulating soil.Desktop Version

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