Please send in your good photos, as the tank is depleting faster than I’d like. Thanks.
Today we have a potpourri of photos from various readers and contributors. Their captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
The first photo is by Jamie Blilie:
Winter plumage American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) in the middle of a snowstorm. Taken Dec 23, 2020, in a tree in our back yard, Minnesota. We have many winter resident birds. We have many feeders in our yard to help them through the winter (we feed much less in summer).
Reader Bryan found slugs making The Beast with Two Backs in Middlesex County, Massachusetts:
I saw this the other day (cool fall day in N. hemisphere).Reading a bit tells me it is gastropod copulation involving Spanish slugs, Arion vulgaris. It was satisfying to know I stumbled (figuratively!) on a fascinating biology topic.
From Thomas Czarny, sent September 8:
Yesterday an epic line storm coming across Lake Michigan slammed into the Traverse City, MI area causing widespread wind, rain and hail damage. Below is a sequence of photos of the advancing front as it swept inland from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Shoreline. Only the first one is my photo, the rest are from friends and other local sources. At last report the Cherry Hut in Beulah is still intact.🍒
From Divy:
We went to the Ubud Monkey Forest in Bali a couple of years ago. If I remember correctly, this was a tourist conservation, owned by the local community. There were several Hindu temples within the forest which were closed-off to the public; only the monkeys could enter. I believe these were Balinese long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis).
Reader Reese sent in some photos he got from a friend who tends ducks in a pond by his house. I’m going to show these photos to Honey.
From my friend John Williamson who feeds ducks and other wildlife on a resaca in Brownsville, Texas. I hope some of your pals are planning on wintering there. His house backs up to Town Resaca (which appears to be a body of water that goes nowhere) in Brownsville, not far from the Gladys Porter Zoo. I attach a few more photos so your ducks have a better idea of the winter spa awaiting them:
Note that he has built a duck-feeding platform (and also a Buddha platform).
Nutria (rodents also known as coypu; Myocaster coypus) also appreciate the duck corn. There also seem to be duck pellets:
A good assortment! Thanks all for sharing.
You certainly get some amazing weather in the US! Here in England, despite our reputed national preoccupation with the weather, we rarely experience anything spectacular like this.
An impressive storm front, and impressive photos! I think that one of the things that really contributes to the photos is that wide flat horizon. Too many hills around where I live to get that panoramic effect – it just chops up the big sweep of weather.
What a variety of motives today! The storm pics are spectacular.
Yes, really striking colours, light and patterns in the storm photos- somehow foreboding yet serene.