Greetings

Greetings everybody and welcome to another edition of Whispers, the newsletter of the Dereila Nature Inn - your cyber nature centre where we celebrate nature and photography every month with trivia, tips and site updates. 

Thank you for supporting your project by subscribing to the newsletter and spreading the word about the site. 

We hope that this newsletter finds you well and enjoying nature and the changing of the seasons wherever you may be.

Trivia Time

Here's this month's trivia question: Which insect never sleeps?

You'll find the answer at the end of the newsletter.

Here are the latest features at the Inn.  We've worked on updating our All Things Natural Restaurant section with some more tips on how to attract birds to your garden or deck and we've also made an new interactive crossword for you to try.

We hope you'll enjoy the new additions.

Clicking on the images will take you straight to the page.

 

 

The Importance of Water
Water can really help attract birds and in this article you'll see how easy it is to set up some water baths and dishes and the difference they'll make. 

Suet Log Feeder

This simple project is will be a welcome addition to your bird feeding area. 

Each month we invite you to submit nature photographs to this part of our newsletter.  We start with a couple of great shots sent in by Julie C. of Van Etten, NY.

John F. from Nashville TN also sent in a couple of pictures for us to enjoy.  On the left a close-up of some Glade Mushrooms and on the right a photo of weathered bedrock. 

    

 
Simply click on the images to visit the pages.
You can also check out the archives as they're just a click away:

This is an old weather-beaten railing.  One side faces south and receives more sunshine.  It's covered with lichens.  Meanwhile, the north-facing surface receives much less sunshine is covered with moss.  This clearly indicates the preferences of these plants and in so doing creates an interesting image.

Number one: "This time don't miss."
Number two: "Am I close enough?  Am I?  Am I?"

If you have any suggestions for additional funny captions, 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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In this section we examine the meanings behind scientific names.

The White-throated Sparrow has the scientific name, Zonotrichia albicollis. The genus name, Zonotrichia comes from the Greek words zono - meaning band or zone - and trichia = hair.  So we have a word which means "hair bands" which is in reference to the hair-like bands or regions of colour on the bird's head. 

The species name, albicollis, is made up of albi = white and collis = neck or throat, in clear reference to the sparrow's very evident white markings on its throat.

 

 

Coming Up

We're constantly working on new features at the Inn.  Coming up in the next while are some features on moses and more crosswords to enjoy and more fact pages featuring trees.
 

Past Issues
We upload past issues of Whispers as new ones are issued.  You can view them all with a simple click here.  

Did you know that inside the spittle found on many plants in the springtime is a small insect?

One such insect is the Meadow Spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius.

Did you also know that they shed a sort of skin, as shown here?  They molt in the chamber of foam that they made.  Eventually this dries up and falls away.

 

Until next time, best wishes from your friends at the Dereila Nature Inn - the Cyber Nature Centre for Nature Lovers. Watch for the next issue of Whispers in your inbox during the first week of April.