Welcome to March's issue of the Dereila Nature Inn newsletter.
A delightful Satin Flower, Sisyrinchium douglasii, greets you as spring draws near. |
Greetings
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Welcome to another issue of Whispers, the newsletter of the Dereila Nature Inn - your virtual nature centre. It's been a long winter for many of us and it's great to see the days getting longer and warmer. Spring is an exciting time for nature enthusiasts after the season of rest and renewal. Snows are melting and in some places wildflowers are starting to pop up and the birds are migrating. We hope you'll enjoy this month's newsletter. We've got some wonderful photographs for you to enjoy, some tips and news as well as some trivia and a joke. We thank you for subscribing and supporting our project!  Please join us on Facebook where we welcome your comments and feedback. |
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Trivia Time
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Which tree is most closely associated with the southwest United States' Mojave Desert?
You'll find the answer at the end of the newsletter. |
What's This? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you know what this cropped close-up photograph is? Put your brain to the test before checking the answer at the end of the newsletter.
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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. Insulating Your Hummingbird Feeder
Add a plastic bottle to your hummingbird feeder and it'll act as an insulator.
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Contributed by...
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Every month we are delighted with the photographs submitted to us for this section. Once again we have a terrific selection. This striking image of a Kookaburra, favourite bird from Australia, comes to us from Rosemary O'Connell, Ottawa, Ontario.  This excellent shot of an Osprey was sent in by Judy Howle, Columbus, Mississippi.
Gail Freiherr of Knoxville, Tennessee sent us her favourite photo of
a male Eastern Bluebird feeding the young ones. What a great shot!
Butterfly Pea, photographed on a trip to Honduras
by Albertina Pianarose, Ottawa, Ontario.
Jim Noeninger, Shiloh, Illinois, spotted this rare sight of
a rather unique Honeycomb.
Many thanks to Rosemary, Judy, Gail, Albertina and Jim for taking the
time to send in these photographs for us all 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 - Golden Buprestid; Wildflower - Yellow Beardtongue; Bird - Turnstone
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
This month's featured page is from the Lagoon Trail and is called Living Waters.
Come and explore some of the diversity of the sea.
Purple Sea Urchin
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| The Wandering Image
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This month we took our camera down to the lagoon.  A very handsome male Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, popped into our viewfinder this month. This is a small diving duck. The male is able to expand or contract the crest on the back of its head. |
| Caption This!
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What do you think these Canada Geese and Great Blue Heron are saying? We welcome your caption ideas and have supplied two to get you thinking.
Number one: "Hello, hello, hello. What's happening?"
Number two: "Just ignore him. He's not one of us."
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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This peaceful view was sent by Susan Asis Kalman of Flushing, New York. It's the Grand Tetons in Wyoming and is a stunning scene from Signal Mountain overlook. If you think you have a suitable nature photograph for this section please send us an e-mail along with a brief explanation. We look forward to your submissions. |
Behind the Name
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Blue Camas, Camassia quamash, is a plant which thrives in wet meadows or along the sides of streams. Interestingly, its scientific name doesn't come from Greek or Latin. The genus and species names both come from the language of the Nez Pierce people of the Pacific Northwest and are the names given to the plant by them. |
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Joke of the Month ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A construction crew drove into a lumberyard. A beaver went to the clerk and said, "We need some four-by-twos."
The clerk replied, "You mean two-by-fours, don't you?"
"I'll go check with my boss," said the beaver.
He returned and said, "Yeah, I meant two-by-fours."
"How long do you need them?" asked the clerk.
The beaver paused for a minute and then said, "I'd better go check with my boss again."
After a while he returned to the office.
"Well," said the clerk. "How long do you need them?"
"Oh, a long time. My boss says we're gonna build a house."
"I wonder if I should have used a few pieces of two-by-fours for my place?" |
| 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.
A Little Reminder
Now's a great time to crush up your egg shells and add them your suet mix. Nesting birds will need to extra calcium that they provide. Here's a tasty recipe from our collection: Yummy Suet I
Ingredients: 1/cup lard 1/cup suet 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup flour 1 cup oats
1 cup corn meal
hand full of birdseed
dried egg shells, crush them with a rolling pin until they're like dust
Method:
Melt lard, suet and peanut butter in the microwave until soft and runny.
Add the remaining ingredients and let cool.
Before it's too solid, pour into molds that will fit into a suet cage - or put into a pine cone.
Tips from the Inn
Many hummingbird feeders come with a stiff plastic wire which
can be a bit awkward to loop, knot and use.
A cheap and simple alternative is a common shower curtain hook.
Slip it through the top of the feeder and that's all there is to it!
This makes it much easier to take down and hang up again.
Mammal Images Needed We would love to complete our page of state/provincial mammals, but we are missing a few images. It would be very appreciated if you could send in any of the following:
Arizona: Ring-tailed Cat
Delaware: Gray Fox
Florida: Florida Panther
Georgia and Massachusetts: Right Whale
Minnesota: Timber Wolf
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 globe celebrates World Forestry Day on March 21.
This is a day to spread awareness about the importance
of the Earth's forests. For more information, click here.
National Wildlife Week happens this month from March 18-24.
Click here for some more details.
And coming up in April we'll be celebrating Earth Day on April 22.
Mark your calendars for Arbor (or Arbour) Day on April 26. |
Did You Know...
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Did you know that Honeybees have hairs on their eyes? |
| State and Provincial Symbols
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The state tree of Idaho is the Western White Pine.
Be sure to check out our collection of state and provincial trees by clicking here. |
| Trivia Answer
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The amazing Joshua Tree is most associated with the Mojave Desert. We invite you to take a virtual tour of California's Joshua Tree National Park. |
| What's This?
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Our mystery image is the face of a Honeybee. |
| 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 month may you enjoy many wonderful encounters of nature.
Watch for the next issue of Whispers in your inbox during the first week of April. See you then! |
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