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Grazing elk in Banff National Park welcome you to this month's issue of Whispers.
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Greetings
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Welcome, once again to Whispers, the newsletter of the Dereila Nature Inn - your cyber nature centre. Many thanks for subscribing to our newsletter. We really appreciate your support.
It's been another busy month at the Inn! We hope you enjoy the new features that have been added. |
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Trivia Time
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We start off with a trivia question:
What land animal is one of the biggest and strongest, yet is also one of the most peaceful?
You'll find the answer at the end of the newsletter.
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| New Features at the Inn
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It's been very busy at the Inn. Here are the latest additions. Just click on the images to go directly to the page. Birds of Hawaii Photo Gallery
Enjoy this collection of images featuring birds photographed in beautiful Hawaii.
Yellowstone National Park Photo Gallery
Over 30 scenic photos from America's first National Park .
The Shifting Sands
Along the sea shores you can find a wide variety of plants that thrive in the ever shifting sands.
Provincial and State Flowers
 A visual display of the floral symbols of the Canadian provinces and territories and American states. Watertales The importance of water at a bird feeding station is demonstrated in this At A Glance collection of pictures visiting for a drink or a bath. To see the latest postings at the Inn as they are added, visit the news and updates page. |
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.
Once again we have two contributions.
Claudia from Scotia, New York, sent us this image of a loon watching over its offspring in Pyramid Lake, in the Adirondack Mountains, NY.
Below, this woodland parasitic flower, Northern Groundcone, Boschniakia rassica, was kindly sent to us by Lelia Crosby from Chapel Hill, NC.
Thanks so much for these wonderful contributions! 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 |
| The Wandering Image
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This month, we head back down to the beach for our wandering image where we come upon a Horse Clam, Tresus Capax.
It is usually just the empty shells that one comes across when walking along the shores. This was a little different to the usual ones, though. These shells did not close completely and it was strange to see its foot poking out.
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Snippets in Nature ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This month we have some autumn pictures from Big Hill Springs Provincial Park in Southern Alberta.
Although this is a small park it's a very pleasant spot to visit at any time of the year. The main feature is a series of waterfalls which flow all year long. A walk along the waterfalls takes you away from the hustle and bustle of every-day life. These photos were taken on a recent autumn day.
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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.
If you study this picture of a dragonfly for a while, perhaps you'll come up with a few funny captions.
Here are some ideas we came up with: Number one: "Just pretend I'm not here!" Number two: "This isn't my best side, you know." If you have a suggestion that will make us chuckle, 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 |
| Nature Notes
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| Stories Behind the Pictures
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Sometimes things aren't what they seem to be! The image on the left of this moth, Lophocampa argentata, was actually taken after the one on the right. It was found on the curled up, dried up leaf in a greenhouse and presumed dead.
We wanted a record of it for our files, so picked up to be photographed. Deciding to take the picture with the green leaf as a good background, we tried to pry the moth from the leaf very carefully with a thin twig. To our amazement, it let go after a while and we discovered that it was alive. We took a series of photos and then the little fellow took off leaving us some lovely photos a little lesson on the importance of checking things twice.
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| Tips from the Inn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This month's tip involves some planning ahead, a fast trigger finger and a bit of luck.
It's not always easy guessing which way a bird or insect might fly to next. While photographing a few bees on a group of flowers it seemed that they all like to visit as many of the flower heads as possible. With this in mind, the camera was focussed on a flower above the one that this bee was inspecting. When it flew up to the next flower, a quick click, and this was the result:
The bee is a Bombus melanopygus.
It may not always work, but with some patience, careful observation and planning ahead you might just capture something unique.
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Joke of the Month ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Baby Bear goes downstairs and sits in his small chair at the table, he looks into his small bowl. It is empty.
"Who's been eating my porridge?!!" he squeaks.
Papa Bear arrives at the big table and sits in his big chair. He looks into his big bowl which is also empty.
"Who's been eating my porridge?" he roars.
Momma Bear puts her head through the serving hatch from the kitchen and yells, "I HAVEN'T MADE THE DAMN PORRIDGE YET!"
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| Notes from Around the Inn
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As the chilly, frosty weather arrives for many of us, remember that the birds still love fresh and unfrozen water throughout the winter months. They will appreciate the water as much at this Varied Thrush does.
Add a Google Gadget to Your iGoggle Homepage
You can now add a gadget to your iGoogle hompage featuring images from the our wessite. It's colourful, free and easy. For more information visit the Inn's Add a Google Gadget page. Search the InnYou may have noticed that we're adding search boxes on several pages. These allow you to search the Inn quickly for a topic, information or image quickly. Try them out! Book Recommendations
You 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 or write to address at the bottom of this newsletter and we'll be happy to send the details for that to you. Thanks again for your support! 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. Next Issue
Our next issue will be in your Inbox in the first week of December. See you then! |
| Trivia Answer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The tallest animal on land and one of the strongest, but yet one of the most peaceful, is the giraffe.
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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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