Bonsai Japanese Red Maple

Bonsai Japanese Red Maple Originally, the term Bonsai simply meant "a plant grown in a container". Nowadays, Bonsai means "miniaturized plant, shrub, or tree in a planter". This miniaturization process is accomplished by planting in a smaller than normal container and by sensible pruning to make the plant resemble its larger counterpart in nature.

Deosai National Park

The Deosai National Park is located in the Skardu District of Gilgit-Baltistan province, in northernmost Pakistan. Deosai means 'the land of Giants'. The park is located on the Deosai Plains of the Gilgit-Baltistan geographic region. Deosai is a tourist attraction and lot of tourists who visit Baltistan go to Deosai as well. Deosai Plateau which is the second highest plateau in the world after the Chang Tang in Tibet. In local Balti language, Deosai is called Byarsa, meaning ‘summer place’. The plateau is located at the boundary of the Karakorum and the western Himalayas.

Fairy Meadows, Nanga Parbat.

Fairy Meadows, named by German climbers (German Märchenwiese, ″fairy tale meadows″) and locally known as Joot, is a grassland near one of the base camp sites of the Nanga Parbat, located in Diamer District, Gilgit-Baltistan. At an altitude of about 3,300 meters above the sea level, it serves as the launching point for trekkers summiting on the Rakhiot face of the Nanga Parbat. In 1995, the Government of Pakistan declared Fairy Meadows a National Park.

Ambesh Lake (Home of Brown & Golden Trouts Fish)

Ambesh Lake - Some four Hours Trek fron Handrap Lake, Ghizer Valley Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Blue-footed booby

The blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii) is a marine bird in the family Sulidae, which includes ten species of long-winged seabirds. The natural breeding habitats of the blue-footed booby are the tropical and subtropical islands of the Pacific Ocean. It can be found from the Gulf of California down along the western coasts of Central and South America down to Peru. Approximately one half of all breeding pairs nest on the Galápagos Islands.

The beauty of Shandur lake!

Shandur Lake is a lake and is located in North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The estimate terrain elevation above seal level is 3598 metres. Variant forms of spelling for Shandur Lake or in other languages: Shandur Lake, Shandur Dand, Shandur Dand, Shandur Lake.

The Sweet Kip Kip Wheep Wheep Squirrel Cuckoo

The squirrel cuckoo (Piaya cayana) is a large and active species of cuckoo. It can be found in wooded habitats from northwestern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay, and on Trinidad. The large cuckoo is extremely long-tailed about 40.5–50 centimeters long and weighs 95 to 120 grams. It is common and is most often seen in gliding from one tree to another, or enthusiastically hopping from branch to branch in hunt of a wide variety of arthropods. The adult cuckoo has mainly chestnut upper-parts and head, becoming paler on the throat. The lower breast is grey and the belly is blackish. The central tail feathers are Rufous, but the outer are black with white tips. The bill is yellow and the iris is red. Immature birds have a grey bill and eyeing, brown iris, and less white in the tail. 

It looks like the little cuckoo, but that species is smaller and has a darker throat. However unique throughout its range it is highly polytypic with fourteen subspecies that vary in the coloration of their under-parts, throat, bare parts, and tail. Therefore; few of these subspecies are quite different, and due to their lack of integration with adjoining subspecies maybe represent separate species. The Squirrel Cuckoo is a common species that inhabits a diversity of forested habitats across its range, including humid to semi humid forest, deciduous forest, forest edge, second growth, plantations, and even scattered trees in open country.

There’re a number of subspecies with minor plumage variations. i.e P. c. mehleri, one of the South American subspecies, has mainly brown outer tail feathers. Moreover, the subspecies from Mexico, Central America, and northern and western South America have a yellow eye-ring, but this is red in the remaining part of South America. It is explosive kip! kip! weeuu calls, and the song is a whistled wheep wheep wheep wheep wheep. Nests are constructed in trees or in low dense growth. Although building, one partner male brings material to the other, who stays on the nest and arranges it. The completed nest comprises of a loose foundation of coarse sticks supporting a thick mass of leaves, some of which are green when brought back. The clutch typically is two egg which are chalky white and unmarked; the eggs may become stained brown by the leaves in the nest. Source: Charismatic Planet

 

Cape Leveque

Cape Leveque is the northernmost tip of the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. This area is truly isolated from the rest of the world and only accessible by air or four-wheel drive from Broome. (Photo: Joanne Oliver)

Burgess Falls — A beautiful view of Burgess Falls located in Burgess Falls State Park, Putnam County, Tennessee

Burgess Falls — A beautiful view of Burgess Falls located in Burgess Falls State Park, Putnam County, Tennessee. Photo credit: Alan Cressler

The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland is home to six of the world’s seven marine turtle species.

The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland is home to six of the world’s seven marine turtle species. Just like this grumpy fellow who was spotted at Lady Elliot Island recently.

A hummingbird confronting a pit viper has gained him an enormous amount of attention.

Of 338 known species, approximately 50 types of these birds live or breed in the tropical lowlands and cloud forests of Costa Rica, where arboreal vipers also live amid the thick foliage. This remarkable photograph of a hummingbird confronting a pit viper has gained him an enormous amount of attention. The vivid colors were produced by cleverly utilizing flashes and something that is hard to master, but is no problem for Bence.

Bence Máté is well-known as one of the world’s greatest wildlife photographers. In the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition alone, Bence has placed a total of 17 times and counting. Bence Mate took the title of “Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year” in 2002, and then the adult prize of “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” in 2010.

Source Valid Mesic

A roseate spoonbill meanders across the wet sand on an early morning in Fort De Soto, Florida

A roseate spoonbill meanders across the wet sand on an early morning in Fort De Soto, Florida, 

Photo Credit

Lady Musgrave Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Lady Musgrave Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Lady Musgrave Island is a 14 hectares coral cay on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, with a 1,192 hectares surrounding reef. The island is the second island in the Great Barrier Reef chain of islands, and is most easily reached from the town of 1770, Queensland, located on approximately 5 hours north of Brisbane. It is named for the wife of Sir Anthony Musgrave, a colonial governor of Queensland.

This photo comes from the beautiful Shiraito Falls in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.

It's not all just rocks and flowing water - there's all sorts of lovely natural growth around the basin. The harmony of life in creation is quite a wonder.

Letchworth State Parks middle falls on the Genesee River, New York State, USA

Letchworth State Parks middle falls on the Genesee River, New York State, USA, photo by tenfrozentoes.

Ama Dablam is a mountain in the Himalaya range of eastern Nepal.

Ama Dablam is a mountain in the Himalaya range of eastern Nepal. The main peak is 6,856 metres; the lower western peak is 6,170 metres. Ama Dablam is one of the most beautiful peaks in the Himalaya. It is situated in the heart of Everest's Khumbu Region. Ama Dablam means "Mother's necklace".

Mount Everest

Straddling the border between Nepal and Tibet, Mount Everest (named in 1856 in honor of Sir George Everest responsible for triangulation of British Indies) is the highest mountain peak in the world that the Sherpas climb proudly at the head tourist expeditions as final prayers in honor of the "Sea Goddess of the Earth" (Chomolungma) providing food to the people from his high astral top.