| Greetings!
Welcome to the year-end edition of Whispers - the newsletter of your favourite nature site on the web - Dereila Nature Cyber Inn. Thank you to everyone for subscribing and supporting our project. It's hard to believe that it's been a year since we first tossed around the idea of creating a virtual nature centre. Pretty soon we'll be celebrating our first anniversary of being online. It's been a busy and creative year. Many thanks to everyone who has sent in comments, suggestions and contributions. |
| A Walk Through the Woods - New Pages at the Inn
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Contributed by... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When we started the Dereila Nature Inn our vision was one of a community of nature enthusiasts, exchanging ideas, stories tips and images in one form or another. We invite you to submit nature images to this part of our monthly newsletter.
This month's image was submitted by Dirk from Alberta. His lichen covered Spruce tree stands against the sky, lurching upward in the mountains west of Calgary. Thanks Dirk! If you'd like to see your image as part of our members section, send us an e-mail. |
| Monthly Selections
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Each month we select a bird, bug and wildflower of the month. Here are December's choices:
   Click on the images to visit the page and don't forget that we welcome your suggestions for future selections, even if you don't have an image to supply for us. Please send your ideas to us by e-mail.
And a reminder that the year's archives for each are just a click away:
Wildflower Archives | Bug Archives | Bird Archives |
| Notes from Around the Inn
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Our Forums We have two forums that are just getting going and we invite you to visit both.
The Birder's Place - This a social network and forum just for Birders. Here you can meet other birders, exchange stories and upload and share your images.
The Nature Hut - Here we invite you to join our community of nature lovers. Upload your nature images and enjoy discussions and stories of experiences and nature sightings.
Click on the images to visit the two forums.
Captioned!  "Whooops! Sorry, Martha! I didn't realize you
were demonstrating wreath-making here!"
We have several pages of images feature birds and mammals that are just waiting for captions. Thanks to Gretchen of Northern California for sending in this really good caption!
We invite you to get your imagination going and take part. Just click on the images below to go to the pages:
 
Images Wanted
 Can you help out? We still need a few images to complete our State and provincial birds page. Specifically we are looking for the following: Rhode Island Red H en, Gyrfalcon, Rock Ptarmigan, Lark Bunting, and the Blue Hen Chicken. To visit the page to see the entire collection, click on the image. Award Received We were really pleased this month to receive an award for Superior Web Design from a Graphic Gallery site. Recipes Please As the colder weather arrives, we're hoping you'll have some recipes and tips for feeding our feathered friends during the next few months. We'd love to add these to our All Things Natural Restaurant page. If you can help, please drop us a line.
Past IssuesIf you're a new subscriber to Whispers you might be interested to know that past issues are available online - simply click here. We upload the issues as new ones are released, so as you receive this edition we will be uploading November's issue. |
| The Wandering Image
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For the wandering image this month we travel back to the west coast and one of the prettiest of ducks, the Harlequin duck. This small duck is rather different from other ducks in its nesting habits. It breeds along turbulent rivers and then goes out to sea in the autumn till the following summer. It is on the endangered list in Canada and is the first duck in to reach this stage in modern times, making it a worthy Wandering Image.
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Snippets in Nature ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This month we check out an incredible place: Death Valley National Park in California.
This "snowman" may seem appropriate for this month's wintry newsletter but if you look closely, you'll see that he's actually made of salt!
Death Valley is a place of superlatives. It has the lowest spot in North America - Badwater Basin, where these images were taken as well as some of the highest temperatures ever recorded in North America. Surrounding this sea of salt are mountains that reach up to over 11,000 feet. In the spring the park can be an astounding colourful feast for the eyes with an amazing array of wildflowers.
Enjoy a virtual tour at the Inn's page on Death Valley National Park simply by clicking here.
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Shop with Us ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Don't forget to check out the amazon/dereila bookshop. You'll find a super selection of nature books and guides. See what's in the store for you by clicking on the image.
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Spread the Word ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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.
Any other ideas and suggestions are always welcome. Send us an e-mail!
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