The area around Silver Star Mountain is incredible. I needed this trip so badly, both physically and mentally. I slept at the trailhead and got up bright and early to check out the Chinook Trail. I only learned about this trail a couple days ago. Apparently an effort to build a loop trail around Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR.
I was walking along the greenway at Lake Lynn in Raleigh, North Carolina when this rabbit stuck its head up through a patch of leaves. It had not noticed me yet and I framed it in my camera as peeking out through the rabbit patch.
This tiny disco ball with a face is called a Hummingbird Bobtail Squid, and it doesn't get bigger than a couple of inches in length. Widespread throughout the tropical waters of the central Indo-Pacific area, it prefers sandy or fine sediment seafloors where it can easily bury itself in case of danger. It rests under the sand during the day and comes out at night to feed on small benthic crustaceans primarily. Its glowing abilities, which help hide its profile from being silhouetted by the moonlight, come from a bioluminescent bacteria with which it shares a symbiotic relationship.
It’s larch season in the mountains of Washington State. These conifers have needles that turn yellow and fall off in autumn. Makes for some unreal landscapes.
That feeling when you take a photo of the morning mist and moody silhouette of a farm only to discover there was HUGE jellyfish cloud in the sky all along.
On Christmas morning in 2021 I went to the local park to see what was out and about. One of my fellow photographer friends was there and alerted me to the deer in the woods.
I was able to capture this tender moment between the two.
🐙 🐙 🐙 🐙 ⛰️ 🔎 🌊
Why do thousands of deep-sea octopuses congregate two miles below the surface, at the base of an underwater mountain off California? Researchers now think they know the secret behind this real-life octopus garden, the largest known gathering of deep-sea octopuses on Earth....
So there's this Greek myth that says Zeus was fed by bees when he was born. In gratitude, he blessed them with the color of "shining bronze", and made them immune to cold and harsh winds. These bees lived in Zeus' sacred cave in Crete, and aggressively chased away anyone who tried to steal their honey.
Any #apiarist or #entomology expert out there who could tell me what these bees are by any chance?...
Look what I found while moving rocks in my yard! 😍
"Oh, hello there!" I said after I squealed with joy.
When I was a child, I used to go hunting for newts, salamanders, snakes, turtles—you name it. It's been almost 20 years since I've seen one of these, and it was just as magical today as it was back then. 🥰
I placed it next to where I found it, where it crawled under a pile of loose soil and decaying leaf litter.
“Happy 191st (or so) birthday to the world’s oldest living land animal As Jonathan enters his 192nd year, he still shows a zest for life, said Joe Hollins, who helps care for the 400-pound tortoise”