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Alpine Marsh Marigolds, Caltha leptose, thrive in a wet, boggy zone.
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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. We hope you enjoy this month's celebration of nature and photography. |
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Trivia Time
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Which kind of trees are used to make turpentine?
You'll find the answer at the end of the newsletter.
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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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Here are the latest additions at the Inn. Just click on the images and you'll be taken straight to the page. 2013 Pictures of the Week Jigsaw Puzzles
We have added 52 pages of online jigsaw puzzles using the Pictures of the Week from 2013. You are invited to challenge yourself! 
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Contributed by...
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Here are some of the amazing photographs that have been sent in for us all to enjoy.
Bob Arsenault of Toronto spotted this colourful American
Purple Gallinule in the Florida Everglades.
While visiting southern Africa, Holly D. Johns, Kennesaw,
Georgia, saw this beautiful Cheetah.
Holly also sent us this photograph of a hefty White Rhinoceros.
 This Wild Turkey seems to be showing off for Marilyn Flanagan of Florida. Many thanks to Bob, Holly and Marilyn for submitting these super images for everyone to 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.
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| Monthly Selections
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Here are this month's choices: Bug - Yellow-legged Meadowhawk | Wildflower - Roan Mountain Goldenrod | Bird - Double-crested Cormorant   
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
In the Shadow of Peaks is a hike up to the alpine meadows of the mountains to see some of the alpine flowers that survive harsh conditions and short growing seasons.
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| The Wandering Image
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This month we visit Hawaii which always has some interesting plant life.  This unusual tree is a Persian Ironwood tree, Parrotia persica, and is a native of Iran. |
| Caption This!
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Do you have an idea for a caption for this month's picture?
Here are some of our ideas:
Number one: "Hey! Do you want one of these?"
Number two: "No one's looking, so I'll pop back for the others.'"
If this month's photo inspires you, please send us your caption in 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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W.C. Durnil of Chino Valley, Arizona, sent in this beautiful scene
taken in Arizona's Red Rocks of Sedona. What a gorgeous spot!
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.
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Behind the Name
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This interesting-looking plant is called Bird's Foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus. It is a member of the pea family of plants and is a low-growing perennial introduced to North America from Europe. Its genus name, Lotus, comes from Greek mythology where lotus was a fruit with the ability to make whoever ate it, forget where he or she lived. However, what this has to do with this plant is a complete mystery!
The species name, corniculatus, means 'horned' and is believed to refer to the shape of the flower.
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Joke of the Month ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A chicken was wandering peacefully along a road pondering life when it spotted another chicken on the other side of the road.
"Excuse me! How do I cross the road?" called the first chicken to the second.
The second chicken thought about this and answered, "You are across the road."
"Boy, there sure are some dumb bunnies about not knowing where they are!"
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| 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.
Page Updates
We are really happy to have recently received four images to complete our State Butterfly page. Thanks so much for helping out. You can see the page by clicking here.
Also, our State and Provincial Insects page is just about completed, thanks to the three images we were sent including Quebec, the only Canadian province with an official insect. All we need now to complete the page is Oregon's state insect which happens to be a butterfly: the Oregon Swallowtail Butterfly. If you are able to help out by contributing this missing image, it would be really appreciated. You can check out the page by clicking here. Thank you! A Little Reminder
Don't forget to provide your bird visitors with a source of clean, fresh water. Birds drink and bathe in the same dishes so be sure to give those dishes a regular cleaning with some mild soapy water followed by a good rinse. The birds will be really thankful. Tips from the Inn
We still have some berries in the freezer from last autumn and noticed that
some birds had a bit of trouble eating them. This Hermit Thrush was one and would grab a berry and take it away to consume.
Since we wanted to watch the visitors consume the food on the feeding station, we chopped up the berries. Now the Hermit Thrush hangs around a bit longer to eat.
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 next big day of celebration is National Wildlife Day which is not until
September 4. We have more details and information here.
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Did You Know...
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Did you know that the beaver has the amazing ability to gnaw while underwater?
To do this the beaver's lips can close behind its incisors. This comes in handy when building a dam or a lodge like this one.
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State and Provincial Symbols ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
States and provinces have official mammals, birds, insects and other symbols.
Georgia also has an official state crop: the peanut, a favourite food of this Steller's Jay.
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Trivia Answer
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The resin of some pine trees is used to make turpentine.
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What's This?
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This month's mystery close-up is a duck, the Goldeneye.
How was your guess?
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| 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 are taking a bit of a summer break and will be getting out about into nature's wonderful world, so the next issue of Whispers will be in your inbox in September. Have a fantastic summer!
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