Welcome to September's issue of the Dereila Nature Inn newsletter.

As we move into autumn, the early colours of change are
reflected in a swift running stream on Vancouver Island.

Greetings

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Hello and welcome to Whispers, the newsletter of the Dereila Nature Inn - your cyber nature centre where we celebrate nature and photography. We hope everyone has had a wonderful summer. It seemed to pass very quickly!

We'd like to say a special hello to all of our new subscribers and send a hearty thank-you to everyone who continues to support this project. We appreciate your positive feedback, ideas and encouragement.

Trivia Time

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What is red, orange, yellow, green, indigo and violet and always excapes us?

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

What's This?

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Once again we have cropped and zoomed to create a mysterious close-up photograph. Can you figure out what this is? You'll find the answer at the end of the newsletter.

Close-ups In Nature

For more of this type of mystery solving, be sure to visit our pages of Close-ups in Nature.

New Features at the Inn

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Here are the latest features at the Inn we hope you'll enjoy. Clicking on the images will take you straight to the page.

Ferns at-a-Glance

Our latest At-A-Glance guide features over two dozen different and varied ferns.

Special Places in the Natural World

Take a virtual tour of Canada's Jasper National Park in this latest addtion to our series.

Find the latest additions on the news page.

Contributed by...
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We invite you to submit nature photographs to this part of our newsletter.

Thanks to Marilyn Flanagan from Florida for this photograph
of some unusual mushrooms.

Tony in Toronto, a frequent contributor to this
newsletter spotted this House Finch recently.

Margaret Straley of Spencer, West Virginia,
submitted this lovely image of Prairie Smoke.

Marilyn, Margaret and Tony, a huge thank-you for taking the time
to send in your wonderful photographs!

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: Insect - Lorquin's Admiral Butterfly; Wildflower - Baja Fairy Duster; Bird - Ring-necked Duck.

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

The Wandering Image

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This month we drop by the rocks on a beach in Hawaii.

Wandering Image

This interesting creature with its strange markings is a rock crab and in
Hawaii is called an 'A'ama Crab, Grapsus tenuicrustatus.
It is often spotted scurrying over the rocks above the water line.

Snippets in Nature
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Snippets in Nature

Capitol Reef National Park is a colourful place of cliffs, canyons and spires in southern Utah. Some of the weathered rocks and fomations are white and reminded people of the Capital building in Washington, so the park was named Capitol Reef.

To take a virtual tour of Capitol Reef National Park from our series of Special Places in the Natural World, click here.

Caption This!

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This picture of two Turnstones needs a humourous caption. Do you have any ideas? We've given you a couple of suggestions.

Caption needed!

Number one: "Keep your head down and they won't see us."

Number two: "And I'm not speaking to you, either, so there."

Tony of Toronto sent in this caption to go with last month's image:
"Hurry up and take the picture! I can't stay like this all day."

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

Behind the Name

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Behind the Name image

The scientific name of the Brown-eyed Primrose or Browneyes is Camissonia claviformis. "Camissonia" refers to Ludolf Adelbert von Chamisso, a botanist from Europe who visited California in the early 1800s. "Claviformis" is Latin for "club-shaped" in reference to the plant's fruits.

Joke of the Month ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A cyclist hit a bird and thinking it was a canary stopped to look after it as it was unconscious. He took it home and popped it in a cage with some water and a few pieces of dried bread.

After a while the bird came to. It saw its surroundings and wailed, "On no! Bars, bread and water! I'm in jail. I must have killed him!"

Joke of the Month

(It was just a feeling that I had.)

Notes, News and Tips from Around the Inn

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Reminder from the Inn

Tips from the Inn

Now is the time to start packing away some of the berries that many birds enjoy. Stash them in plastic bags in the freezer. Later when winter arrives and food is scarce you can provide a valuable source of food for your feathered visitors.

Tips from the Inn

Tip

If you have a log feeder you might want to consider covering it with a rough type of cover such as a piece of bark as shown here. The cover serves a double purpose as not only does it protect the log and its contents it also helps some of the birds. Nuthatches and chickadees like to tuck sunflower seeds and similar food into the cracks and crevices so that they can open them.

Butterfly Images Wanted!
We are looking for a few butterfly images for our State Butterfly Page. If you have any images of the following that you could donate, we would appreciate hearing from you.

Arizona - Two-tailed Swallowtail
Arkansas - Diana Fritillary Butterfly
California - California Dogface Butterfly
Colorado - Colorado Hairstreak Butterfly
Kentucky - Viceroy Butterfly
New Hampshire - Karner Blue Butterfly
New Mexico -Sandia Hairstreak
Oregon - Oregon Swallowtail Butterfly
Wyoming - Sheridan's Green Hairstreak

We'd like to take a moment to thank Joyce Nolan of Ohio who sent us Tennessee's state butterfly the Zebra Swallowtail (below left). Also, many thanks to Lee Anne Stark of Ontario who sent us this Balitimore Checkerspot which is Maryland's official butterfly.

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.

Did You Know...
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Did you know image

Did you know that aspen trees can form dense forest areas by cloning themselves and sending up stems close to the parent trees? The taller (older) trees are usually in the centre and help create a dome-like appearance. These domes can become enormous but take years to develop. In Utah one aspen clone covers over 15 acres.

Trivia Answer

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Trivia Answer

A rainbow.
(That was an easy one this month.)

What's This?

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Another mystery is solved:

What's this answer

Our close-up this month is of a Freckle Pelt Lichen, Peltigera aphthosa.

Nature Notes

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Spread the Word ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading! Please spread the word about our project by passing on our website information to friends and other nature lovers. You can also forward this newsletter by clicking on the "forward e-mail" link at the bottom of this newsletter.

Your ideas and suggestions are always welcome. Send us an e-mail!

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 October.