The hungry frog

We have a little koi pond in our back yard. One of our favorite amusements is our "froggie." We have watched him grow for the past several years. We were greatly surprised one day to visit the pond and find Froggie with a half swallowed sparrow protruding from his mouth. He caught a little more than he could eat.

The following are NOT my photos - but they tell the story very well ...








(photos via Cellar)

Photography by Staffan Windstrand

Since 1998 Staffan Windstrand has been very active in a five-year media project (together with friends and colleagues Magnus Elander and Johan Lewenhaupt), called ”The Scandinavian Big Five”, in which they try to cover all aspects of the five large Scaninavian carnivores – the wolf, the bear, the lynx, the wolverine – and man.
Man being the by far most common, most distributed, most dangerous and most ruthless of them…

There are many more wonderful nature photos at the Staffan Windstrand Gallery.

Snow in Kenya (Africa)

A huge hailstorm turned parts of central Kenya white, thrilling residents most of whom had never experienced such conditions, officials said on Wednesday.

Hailstorms are usual in some parts of Kenya, which straddles the equator, but the ferocity of the storm in Busara, 255 km (158 miles) northwest of the capital was unprecedented.

Excited villagers pelted each other with snowballs while so .

The Garni Gorge

The Garny Gorge is made out of a high number of basalt columns. It’s an absolute must-see if you find yourself in Armenia. It’s a wonderful canyon shaped by the ever-flowing river Goght river. Atop the basalt walls of the gorge the famous 1st century Garni temple can be seen.

Garni Gorge offers its visitors an incredible view and makes them feel like they’re in a fantasy place.

Here's my hummingbird ...

We've had a wonderful patch of bee balm planted in our backyard that has had hummingbird visitors for many years. As much as I try, I have yet to get a good photo - they are so QUICK!

Here's my latest (poor) attempts:


(You can click on the photos, go to Flickr, and see them larger)

These little birds are a delight. Even though we see several every day, it's still an occasion to stop what I'm doing and marvel at nature.

Hummingbird stories:
One day, I was sprinkling the flowers and a hummingbird repeatedly flew into and out of the water drops. She was taking a shower!

Hummingbirds are very territorial. When more than one arrive at the same flower bed at the same time, there's a very loud shrieking dispute until one backs off and leaves. We have seen the looser sit on a branch to wait her turn.

Just last week, we watched a hummingbird fly into a swarm of small gnats. She darted quickly from bug to bug, eating them. We've never seen that before! I thought all hummingbirds did was suck the nectar from flowers. This little bird caught so many bugs, she had to sit on the fence netting around the vegetables and rest. She sat there a good five minutes before she could fly. Talk about over eating!

Late summer brings hummingbirds to Illinois

August and September provide some of the year's best opportunities for observing hummingbirds in Illinois, according to Rob Kanter, author of The University of Illinois' Environmental Almanac. That's because individuals that have been farther north during the breeding season gather here on their way south.

Despite their small size, many hummingbirds migrate over long distances. Ruby-throats heading south may travel 2000 miles to reach their winter territory in southern Mexico and Central America, including a 500-mile nonstop leg of the trip over the Gulf of Mexico.

While the ruby-throated is the most common, rarer hummingbirds -- such as the broad-billed, Rufous and Allen's -- are seen across the Midwest from late summer into fall. The Rufous hummingbird is occasionally seen at feeders.

Source: abc7chicago.com

Frozen Sea

Somewhere in Russia where it is so cold that some parts of the sea is frozen. The waves aren’t entirely frozen since it would literally take a huge drop in temperature while the waves are forming to create something like that.

A Break in the Clouds

This Bizarre weather occurrence, captured on film in Madeira, a Portuguese archipelago in the north Atlantic Ocean. The photographer has yet to discover what was under that spotlight.

A mother's grief -

Eleven-year-old gorilla Gana was holding her three-month-old baby Claudio in her arms on Saturday in her compound at the zoo in Munster, northern Germany, when it suddenly died.

Initially puzzled, Gana stared at the body, bewildered by its lifelessness.

For hours the distraught mother gently shook and stroked the child, vainly seeking to restore movement to his lolling head and limp arms. Visitors to the zoo openly wept as they witnessed her actions.

Hours passed, during which Gana continually prodded and caressed the dead child, to no effect.

But still she refused to give up hope. Gently placing it on her back and slowly walking around the compound, she stopped every few paces to look back and see if her much-loved son had returned to life.

'Claudio died in his mother's arms - we think from some heart defect,' said zoo director Joerg Adler.

'On Wednesday he didn't seem well. On Friday he wasn't eating or drinking and was growing weaker. We were keeping a close eye on him but suddenly, on Saturday morning, he died.'



Still think animals don't have feelings?

Source: MailOnline


But hold on ---

This is not Gana's first experience with motherhood.

Last year, she gave birth to her first baby, a female named Mary Zwo. Gana rejected Mary Zwo for six weeks. Staff at the zoo finally intervened and rescued the baby, which was taken to a veterinary hospital with dehydration and exposure. Mary Zwo was never returned to her mother and has lived at a zoo in Stuttgart with four other gorillas ever since.

This time, Münster Zoo rejected the idea of stepping in to save Claudio. "There was no point in intervening again," said Mr Adler. "We cannot keep on taking away children from a mother."

Lightning in Slow Motion

Various amazing clips of lightning storms shown in slow motion.

The world's biggest moth?

My friend Jake caught this monster moth in Crestwood, Illinois, in August, 2008. His daughter, age 8, is holding it. This has got to be the most ginourmous insect we've ever seen!

Does anyone know what this is?

Here's another look ...

Yes, yes, we let it go after pictures were taken.

Photos: Julie Corsi

Total Solar Eclipse Observed From Western Siberia

Images from the total solar eclipse of August 1st 2008 observed from Siberia. The sun was completed obscured for a few minutes and the solar eclipse was experienced in Canada, Greenland, central Russia, eastern Kazakhstan, western Mongolia and China. The next total solar eclipse only occurs in several years where the next one will be observed in Northern America in 2017, in Europe - in 2026 and in Russia in 2030.