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Welcome to December's issue of the Dereila Nature Inn newsletter.
As 2013 comes to a close, a Steller's Jay pops by and poses for a perfect Christmas card.
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Greetings
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Welcome to the latest issue of Whispers, the newsletter of the Dereila Nature Inn - your virtual nature centre. Here we are at the end of another year. We hope you've had a great year enjoying nature and photography wherever you may be. We send you the best wishes of the season for a very merry Christmas and wonderful new year.
 Please join us on Facebook where we welcome your comments and feedback. |
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Trivia Time
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Which is the largest living species of bird?
You'll find the answer at the end of the newsletter. |
What's This? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you know what this cropped close-up photograph is?
For more of this type of mystery solving,
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| New Features at the Inn
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Contributed by...
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We hope you enjoy the lovely nature photographs that have been submitted to us.
This butterfly was photographed in Ballard Nature Park in Altamont, Illinois by Bill Snyder of Salem, Illinois. A stately Great Blue Heron comes to us from Claudia Gregoire, Glenville, New York. 
This group of Godwits was snapped by Eileen of West Lothian, Scotland.
 This great shot of a Black-capped Chickadee was taken by Frank and Sandra Horvath of Grimsby, Ontario.
Gail Freiheer of Knoxville, Tennessee, spotted this
Towhee having a good splash around.
Thank you to everyone for taking the time to send in
these wonderful photographs for us to all enjoy.
If you would like to see your nature images in our members' section,
simply send us an e-mail. We'd love to hear from you. |
| Monthly Selections
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Here are this month's choices: Bug - Milbert's Tortoiseshell; Wildflower - Grassland Saxifrage; Bird - Northern Cardinal   
Simply click on the images to visit the pages.
You can also check out the archives as they're just a click away:
Wildflower Archives | Bug Archives | Bird Archives
OUR MONTHLY PAGE
The Mammals Wildzone is the starting point with links to pages featuring all sorts of mammals. You'll find fact and photo pages, jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, trivia and more.
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| The Wandering Image
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In this month's wanderings we head to Missouri.  Jim Noeninger of Shiloh, Illinois is a frequent contributor to Whispers and sent in this fabulous photograph of two elk which we thought would be great for this month's Wandering Image. It was taken in Lone Elk Park near St. Louis, Missouri. |
| Caption This!
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What do you think would be a great caption for this photo of these four mallards?
As usual, we've given you a couple of ideas.
Number one: "All right then, who's going in first?"
Number two: "Does anyone know if it's very deep?"
If this month's photo inspires you, please send us an e-mail.
We'd love to hear from you and add your caption to our collection.
You can visit the rest of the collections at the Inn:
The Mammals| The Birds | The Insects
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Snippets in Nature
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Dixie National Forest stretches for over 170 miles across southern Utah, covering close to two million acres. It is an astounding place of colourful cliffs, drylands, canyons, washes and fascinating rock formations.
If you think you have a suitable nature photograph for this section please send us an e-mailalong with a brief explanation. We look forward to your submissions. |
Behind the Name
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Large-leaved Avens, Geum macrophyllum, is a member of the Rose family of plants found in many parts of western North America. The genus name, Geum, comes from a Greek word, geyo, meaning "to give taste of" which is evidently a reference to the use of a similar Mediterranean species. Macrophyllum means the same as the common name: Larged-leaved. |
Joke of the Month ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A millionaire penguin collected live alligators as a hobby, keeping them in a big pool. He also had a most beautiful daughter, and one day threw a huge party in her honour.
"I will give $1 million or my daughter in marriage to the first guy to swim across this pool full of alligators!" he proclaimed.
Suddenly there was a huge splash! A penguin was swimming with all his might across the pond while the crowd cheered him on. Finally he made it to the other side, unharmed.
The millionaire said, "My boy, that was incredible! Which do you want, my daughter or the $1 million?"
The penguin replied, "I don't want your money! And I don't want your daughter! I just want the guy that pushed me in that pool!"
"Wow! That was pretty close." |
| Notes, News and Tips from Around the Inn
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Facebook
 We invite you to post comments on our Facebook page. To visit, just click on the logo or here.
GuestbookWe recently added a guestbook to the Nature Inn and welcome your comments on your next visit. You can also find it here.
A Little Reminder
If you're lucky enough to have hummingbirds visiting throughout the cold winter weather, remember to have a few extra feeders to help you keep up with the cold. You can replace the one outside when it gets frozen with another that can be kept warm indoors.
Tips from the Inn
In many grocery store meat departments you can find
pieces of suet for just a few cents or sometimes, free.
The suet fits easily into your suet feeder and
makes an additional food source for a lot of birds.
Woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches are just a
few of the birds that enjoy a bit of suet every now and then.
Picture of the Week  Be sure to drop by the Inn every week to see the latest Picture of the Week. You can also do so by clicking on the image to the left or by clicking here.
Past Issues
We upload past issues of Whispers as new ones are issued. You can view them all with a simple click here.
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Celebrating Nature
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The annual Christmas Bird Count runs from mid-December until early January.
For more details just click right here.
National Bird Day is celebrated in the United States on January 5.
For more details, click here.
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Did You Know...
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Did you know that only three states have chosen an official crustacean? They are Louisiana, Maryland and Oregon, which chose the Dungeness Crab, Cancer magisteri, in 2009. |
| Emblems and Symbols of the World
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The White-tailed Deer is the official mammal of Costa Rica. |
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Trivia Answer
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The planet's largest bird is the male Ostrich.
Adults can measure 9 ft/3 m tall and weigh over 220 lb/100 kg. |
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What's This?
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This month's mystery photo is Hare's Foot Clover, Trifolium arvense. |
| Nature Notes
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Spread the Word ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We hope you've enjoyed our newsletter for this month and that you'll forward it on to your nature-loving friends. Until next time may you enjoy many wonderful encounters of nature.
We hope you'll watch for the next issue of Whispers in your inbox during the first week of
January. See you then! |
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