Nature
Reflections
There were several moments in which I questioned my sanity when I took nothing but my filled backpack and camera with me to spend the final weeks of the year in the middle of the Panamanian jungle. Because I was a naïve college sophomore, my parents feared it was actually a secret cult that was just miraging itself as a primate rehabilitation sanctuary. While the cult theory never came to fruition, they were right that it was not everything it appeared to be.
By Cassidy Quistorff Cianciolo5 years ago in Earth
Sunrise on Blockhouse Island
Sunrise on Blockhouse Island I tip-toed gingerly out of bed this morning, the cold floors beneath me seeming to be a very long bowling alley to get to the bathroom before I might pee on the floor just getting there. Relieved to have gotten there on time I set about my daily morning ritual of opening the blinds. The darkness surrounded me with a great disc of cloud overhead. A sparse strip of cloud-free space sat along the horizon and I anticipated a fairly colorful sunrise would soon emerge. I decided to go to the grand waters to watch. Checked the mirror to look at my hair... Gah! I turned on the tap and slopped water on my head. Still no good. I put on my hat. That’ll do. I heard a cough from Mom’s place and whispered, “Mom?”
By Gigi Gibson5 years ago in Earth
The Elusive Dragon
Instilling absolute fear and disgust, bugs are not what people gravitate towards when talking about the beauty of nature. However, for as long as I can remember, bugs have fascinated me. Their speed, their sounds, their colours – Incredibly frustrating to capture, but charming to observe. I spent my childhood summer days roaming the community garden studying all the critters I could find. Ants were everywhere, pouring out of the entrances they dug into the ground. Grasshoppers jumping great distances to show-off their powerful legs. It surprised me the first time I saw a grasshopper fly. I just found it so cool and unfair that not only did they have the ability to quickly jump but could also experience new heights flying short distances. Watching the bees travel from flower to flower was enchanting, but also scary because I wanted to avoid their stinger at all costs. The buzzing of flies and the chirps of crickets deafened my thoughts. And mosquitoes seemed to never leave me alone. The wilderness within that garden and any of the trails I explored showed me how diverse and colourful critters could be.
By Kishan Baskaran5 years ago in Earth
Get out of L.A.
“Get out of L.A." they all say. The pollution, the homeless crisis, the shallow friendships, and the isolation are a few things they list off for their reasoning. But their hardness of heart has caused them to stop noticing the flowers. Literally. They march on their causes — yelling loudly at the wrongs in the world — while forgetting to acknowledge the beauty, too.
By Natalie Spack5 years ago in Earth
A Turtle's Smile. Second Place in Capture the Wild Challenge.
It can be hard leaving family behind for college, especially if you're close with them. On August 16, 2017, I wasn't leaving my family - rather, my little brother was leaving me for the Florida Institute of Technology.
By Kathryn Milewski5 years ago in Earth
Whatever it Takes Dolphin Run
I can’t promise this is the best dolphin in the wild picture ever but it might just be the most real. I did crop out the guys arm and zoom in on this momma and baby playing. It was the journey getting to this pixilated dream come true that is most amazing. I am afraid my camera skills are lacking to capture the true intensity of this sheer joy moment. Like any great story it has a beginning, the hook, beautiful blondes in the middle, and the ending (all be it a bit non climatic in this case). Most often I have found true peace of mind and soul to be this way as well. You think you are hunting for some pie in the sky high and there it is on any given regular Sunday morning worship service.
By Holly Yandle5 years ago in Earth
A Butterfly Flower
I live in a small beach town by the Gulf of Mexico in Florida, that keeps beauty at the forefront of our community. Our small city has won beautification awards on a national level and I volunteer when I can to help meet our communities’ goals. Now having three children, my volunteer hours are a tad less than they use to be. I remember driving to the beach early one morning and seeing volunteers from our community driving from planter to planter watering the hanging baskets of flowers downtown, at 5 AM in the morning. So, it was no surprise to me when I heard about an Urban Forest was being created within the city limits. An Urban Forest is where you take a deserted location in a city and dedicate it back to nature. Ours happens to be an old Ringling Bros. Circus railroad corridor that was abandoned, the tracks and pilings buried. The goal was to use native flora to attract native fauna. Since I volunteered my time for the non-profit, Venice Area Beautification Inc. that happened to be building this beautiful Urban Forest, they hired me for this sub-committee. They wanted me to create, design, and develop awareness for their new project. I chose to do this through photography, website design, and social media posts. It went hand in hand, as the photography I took I could then edit and create social media posts from the , to share and bring awareness to our community.
By Victoria Dietz5 years ago in Earth
Teaching a Monarch Butterfly to Play Dead
Today we will be Citizen Scientists tagging Monarch butterflies for the annual migration. Dew-covered cobwebs blanketed the undulated landscape at the Heard Nature Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary in McKinney, Texas, on a cool autumn morning in 2007. The Sanctuary sits on less than 300 acres of untamed wilderness between suburban city sprawl in the Dallas Fort Worth area less than a mile from the major Highway 75 thoroughfare. The neighborhoods adjacent to "The Heard" are comprised of million-dollar homes on 1 acre lots. Yet, looking out over the natural tall grassed clearing we pulled up to and getting set to traverse, we saw an overgrown field of chest-high prairie grasses, scattered thistle and bramble dotted with goldenrod, milkweed, Indian paintbrushes, and johnsongrass. In addition, our guide, Scott, was happy to see us all in long sleeve shirts and jeans and protective footwear like rubber boots. He dutifully informed us of the possibility of stumbling upon all manner of wildlife such as water mocassin snakes, rattlesnakes, copperhead snakes, raccoons, foxes, bobcats, and hundreds of types of insects. Including ticks, we would have tick checks throughout the day, which meant finding a buddy and checking to see if any ticks could be found on their clothing or hair.
By JoAnne Scalf5 years ago in Earth
Cows, Cairns and the Rugged Wilderness of Caledonia
In October 2017, my partner and I left the frenetic and frenzied atmosphere of a bustling city in Southern England and headed north, to the remote and dramatic wilderness of Scotland. We were burnt out and in desperate need to get away for a while, to reconnect with nature.
By Michael Howkins5 years ago in Earth
