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Wildflower blossoms welcome you this month to Whispers. |
Greetings
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Hello once again to Whispers, the newsletter of the Dereila Nature Inn - your cyber nature centre - and a special welcome to our new subscribers.
We hope that you're enjoying Spring and that your encounters with nature at this exciting time of the year are rewarding.
In this month's newsletter, we have a few new features at the Inn to tell you about as well as our usual monthly features.
Thanks for supporting our project! |
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Trivia Time
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Each month we'll start things off with a little bit of nature trivia for you.
Which water-loving creatures are known to cause serious health problems when raised and handled as pets by humans?
You'll find the answer at the end of the newsletter.
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Tips From the Inn - #5 - Creating a Natural Scene ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This month's handy photo tip involves using one of the basic needs of all birds: water. What better opportunity for pictures could we have if we supplied a source of water and used it to our advantage? The first step is to simply place a perch of some kind near a dish that is used for drinking and bathing.
You can find such dishes at garden centres. Use one about 8-10 inches wide. In this picture you see the small piece of a branch for the birds to perch on next to the water source. Keep the perch short as you want to limit the area the bird can go which will help you get a good photo.
Now, you have a choice of pictures: In the tub, so to speak; before going in or on the way out.
We welcome your nature tips and ideas! Just send us an e-mail.
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| New Features at the Inn
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We hope you'll enjoy the new features at the Inn. Just click on the images to go directly to the page
Eight Waterbirds
 In a follow-up to a feature we added at the lagoon several months ago, we have created a new page to help you identify eight more waterbirds.. Butterflies and Moths Jigsaw Puzzles Enjoy a new selection of Flash jigsaws featuring butterflies and moths. Ten Song Birds
 Visit this page to learn some tips on identifying ten song birds that might be visiting your bird feeding station. Hummingbirds and Cattails
 In a follow-up to a recently added feature, we have new images of Hummingbirds helping themselves to some of the cattail fluff.
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Contributed by... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As a community of nature enthusiasts exchanging ideas, stories, tips and images, we invite you to submit nature images to this part of our monthly newsletter.
This month we had several people contribute images for this section. First are these super pictures of a Turkey Vulture, submitted by Jon Kindell. of N. Lewisburg, Ohio.
Turkey Vultures are often called "Buzzards" and are found across the United States and into southern Canada. They get their name because of their appearance is similar to that of wild turkeys.
Thanks for the submissions, Jon!
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As an added bonus this month, we have this great looking guy sent to us by Dr. R. Walker of Victoria B.C. While scuba diving off Victoria, he came across this handsome wolf eel. It's a wonderful addition to the growing list of contributed photographs.
Thanks for sending this is, Dr. Walker! If you'd like to see your image as part of our members' section, simply send us an e-mail. |
| Monthly Selections
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Each month we select a bird, bug and wildflower of the month. Here are this month'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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Update
From a previous newsletter tip, here are two photos taken a few weeks later. Snow came down and the Rufous Hummingbird had returned while the year-round resident, the Anna's Hummingbird was also visiting. These two images were taken seconds apart on this miserable day. You can see how the saucers above the feeders have kept most of the snow off the tiny feeding holes allowing the hummingbirds to feed.
 
On the left we have a female Anna's Hummingbird with a female Rufous Hummingbird on the right.
Wild About Wildflowers?
As we move into Spring thoughts turn to the world of wildflowers. To get you inspired, try our Wildflowers Flash jigsaws! Just click here and you'll find 12 colourful puzzles to choose from.
The Bugs are Back
For many of us, for better or worse, Spring marks the return of insects! Visit our visual bug guide to meet some of the fascinating creatures you might be encountering soon.
Book RecommendationsYou may have noticed that we've been placing more and more featured books on our various pages. We receive a very small commission from anything purchased through the Inn on Amazon.ca or Amazon.com - not just recommended books - which all helps pay for our webspace and other expenses. So please, shop with us and support our project! Pay-Pal Accepted - or a cheque!We have had a few people inquire about donating to help with our costs. Apart from making a purchase through amazon.ca or amazon.com (see above) you can help out by making a credit card donation through Pay Pal. Just click on the Pay Pal logo on the main home page or site map. If you don't want to use a credit card and would prefer a contribution by cheque, simply e-mail us and we'll be happy send the details for that to you. Thanks again for your support!
Coming Up...
We're always working on new ideas and features. Currently our works in progress include more photo galleries and a feature on trees. Site Map
Our site map is a handy, straight-forward way to find your way around the Inn. Links are being placed at the bottom of most pages to help you navigate. Visit the map here. Don't Forget Our Forums
Just a reminder about and an invitation to visit our two forums:
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. Suggestions, Ideas and Feedback
We invite and welcome your contributions, thoughts and comments. Please, take a moment to send us an e-mail. If 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 last month's issue. |
The Wandering Image
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We usually think of turkeys only a couple of times each year such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we found another reason to portray this bird as the Wandering Image. We encountered the wild turkeys of La Conner, Washington, on a recent visit. These turkeys have been the town's official bird for the past three years. They wander through the town as cars wheel around and between them, strutting passed residents and their dogs and even seem oblivious to those cutting their lawns!
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Snippets in Nature ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This month we travel to the rugged Oregon coast.
With its amazing hidden coves and beaches with fascinating rock formations, the coast is a photographer's paradise, but often a sailor's nightmare.
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| Caption This!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Each month we would like to invite you to submit a funny caption to go with one of the images in our "Caption This!" collection.
Here's this month's image. What do you imagine this Hoary Marmot is saying?
If you have a suggestion that will make us all smile, 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 |
Nature Notes
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Joke of the Month ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two vultures were in the desert eating a dead clown. The first vulture asks the second vulture: "Does this taste funny to you?"
- from somewhere on the Internet
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| Trivia Answer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Water-loving turtles, when properly and legally acquired as pets, are known to spread salmonella.
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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. You'll also find amazon.ca and amazon.com search boxes for our Canadian and US visitors throughout the Inn.
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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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