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International Day of Friendship
International Day of Friendship
Who better to embody the spirit of International Friendship Day than these two buddies of different species? Here in Zimbabwe"s Mana Pools National Park, the hamerkop, a wading bird, catches a ride from a hippo into deeper waters, where it can access fish and insects it otherwise couldn"t reach.Desktop Version
In the Himalayas for International Mountain Day
In the Himalayas for International Mountain Day
The steep, angular summit of Ama Dablam rises behind Tengboche Monastery, a Tibetan Buddhist site resting at over 12,000 feet. Ama Dablam means "mother"s necklace": Its swooping shape is thought to evoke a mother cradling a child, and a dangling glacier on its southwest face is believed to resemble the religious pendants many Sherpa women wear. Situated in the nearby Khumbu Valley, Tengboche Monastery is a stop on the Sacred Sites Trail Project, a self-guided trek through holy places that dot Nepal"s Sagarmatha National Park.Desktop Version
Oh, happy day!
Oh, happy day!
This baby harbor seal is happily ensconced on a beach on the German island of Düne in the North Sea archipelago of Heligoland. Throngs of seal watchers come here every May and June to watch these cute pups spend their first few weeks of life lolling about the beach.Desktop Version
Hello, harbinger of spring
Hello, harbinger of spring
Welcome back, little mountain bluebird. Although this bright fellow may be enduring the last of this year"s snow in Yellowstone National Park, his presence means winter will soon be ending. The bluebird is a symbol of happiness and a welcome sign of spring in many cultures. Soon other migratory birds will arrive in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem—an 18-million-acre tract that includes Grand Teton National Park and surrounding national forests. It"s the world"s largest intact ecosystem in the northern temperate zone. What exactly does that mean? Since wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone 25 years ago, all the animal species that were first documented by European explorers can still be found here.Desktop Version
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
If you’re celebrating Cinco de Mayo today, you may hear a mariachi band playing. The Mexican music style dates to at least the 1700s, but the modern version took shape in the 20th century. It usually features string and brass instruments and one or more singers, often putting a mariachi spin on traditional ballads and folk songs.Desktop Version
Pascua Florida Day
Pascua Florida Day
We"re at the Ponce de León Inlet Light in Central Florida for Pascua Florida Day, which marks the anniversary of the Spanish explorer"s arrival here in 1513. Believing this stretch of coast to be an island, Ponce de León claimed the land for Spain and named it "La Florida"—because of the verdant landscape and also because it was during the Easter season, which the Spaniards called "Pascua Florida" (Festival of Flowers). According to legend, Ponce de León arrived here in search of the Fountain of Youth, a mythical water source said to restore the youth of those who drink from it or bathe in its waters. While that mission was unsuccessful, his name lives on in history–and on this lighthouse and the inlet where it shines.Desktop Version
A peek at an explosive peak
A peek at an explosive peak
We"re looking at Lassen Peak, a volcano also known as Mount Lassen, and its reflection in Manzanita Lake. This stunning scene can be found in Northern California"s Lassen Volcanic National Park, which was established on this day in 1916. The volcano erupted between 1914 and 1917 (with some activity as late as 1921), but these days the surrounding area is a calm destination of trails, lakes, and stark lava beds. One of the least visited parks, Lassen was the first national park in California to fully reopen after being closed for COVID-19, although it implemented some restrictions to park services and facilities. The park also includes acres of mud pots, hot springs, steam vents, and fumaroles to remind you of the heat that"s below you, including Boiling Springs Lake—one of the largest boiling lakes in the world at over 500 feet wide.Desktop Version
Joan charges Riverside Park
Joan charges Riverside Park
Joan of Arc leads the charge through New York"s Riverside Park for our celebration of International Women"s Day. This year’s Women"s Day observance is particularly meaningful in the United States because 2020 marks 100 years since American women won the right to vote nationwide. That victory was the result of a long, difficult struggle by suffragists—women who faced ridicule, slander, imprisonment, and outright brutality for their efforts to claim the right to vote. These women often drew inspiration from Joan of Arc, who became a feminist symbol of the female warrior for universal rights. In their marches and demonstrations in the early 1900s, suffragists often dressed as Joan and invoked her heroism in defiance of a male-dominated culture.Desktop Version
It’s National Dolphin Day!
It’s National Dolphin Day!
We’re celebrating National Dolphin Day by heading to the waters offshore from Kaikoura, New Zealand, where a pod of dusky dolphins is surfacing along South Island’s Pacific Coast. The ‘dusky’ descriptor comes from the dark gray, sometimes black coloring on the marine mammal’s back. Dusky dolphins are found only in the Southern Hemisphere.Desktop Version
Protecting endangered giants
Protecting endangered giants
In honor of Wildlife Conservation Day, we"re looking at these two white rhinos strolling through the Amakhala Game Reserve in South Africa—with a friendly oxpecker bird on their tails. The large anklets they"re wearing are used to track the endangered animals and protect them from poaching. Both white and black rhinos live in open savanna, but the adult rhinos" only real predators are humans who hunt them for the illegal trade of their horns. Although they are known for being large, tough animals, rhinos are easily poached during their daily visits to the watering hole. Southern white rhinos now thrive in protected sanctuaries like the Amakhala Game Reserve. But the northern white rhino subspecies is believed to be extinct in the wild with only a few captive individuals remaining. Black rhinos have doubled from their low point over the past two decades, but still number only a fraction of their population in the early 20th century.Desktop Version
A good time in the Badlands
A good time in the Badlands
At the close of National Park Week, we arrive at Badlands in South Dakota. Our photo today shows a view from Castle Trail—at 10 miles round trip, it’s the longest marked hike in the park. Spring rain has revived the grasses across the prairie as the sun illuminates the pinnacle rock formations in the distance. Soon, grazing animals such as bison and pronghorn will begin feasting on the fresh crop of grasses. This is also a good time of year to spot some of the dozens of different butterfly species that live in the park and provide a delicate contrast to the park’s rugged landscape.Desktop Version
A stroll above the stratosphere
A stroll above the stratosphere
If this photo from 200-plus miles above Earth dizzies you, imagine how it felt to be Alexei Leonov on March 18, 1965. The Soviet cosmonaut achieved the first-ever extravehicular activity (EVA—but you and I just call it a spacewalk). He spent about 12 minutes outside the orbiting Voskhod 2 capsule. It was the ultimate risk: No one knew just what could happen to a human body in the vacuum of space. Near heatstroke, drenched with sweat, and with his suit dangerously inflating, Leonov barely made it back inside the airlock.Desktop Version
Ahh-tumn
Ahh-tumn
To celebrate the autumnal equinox, we’re in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The park includes part of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley, and in fall, the forests of Shenandoah offer a kaleidoscope of red, gold, orange, and brown as the leaves turn and begin to drop. Skyline Drive, a highway winding across the mountains, will be crowded for the next few weeks as visitors make the trek to take in the view as the seasons change.Desktop Version
A palace for the public
A palace for the public
May 23, 2021 marks the 110th anniversary of the opening of the New York Public Library"s Main Branch (now known as the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building). Back just before the turn of the 20th century, a group of New York City business leaders decided that if their hometown was ever going to compete with Paris and London as a center of urban culture, it needed a great library.Desktop Version
It s superb owl Sunday
It s superb owl Sunday
These two great gray owls look like they"re ready to play, which seems fitting on Super Bowl (or "superb owl") Sunday. Great grays are bigger than most other owls, with broad wings and long tails. But before you pencil them in at the offensive line, consider that most of their size comes from feathers—they"re relative lightweights, tipping the scales at under 3 pounds on average, less than most other large owls. They generally live in pine and fir forests with meadows nearby, hunting small rodents at night and avoiding areas with people. Great grays hunt by listening and watching from a perch, then swooping down on their prey—sometimes plunging into more than a foot of snow to make a diving catch.Desktop Version
Winter in the Wild West
Winter in the Wild West
When considering the dramatically eroded canyons of southwestern Utah, snow may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But far-flung Bryce Canyon National Park gets plenty of the white stuff, owing to its elevation of 8,000-plus feet at the massive amphitheater"s rim. The cold not only provides scenic snowy views and great cross-country skiing, it"s responsible for the striking red-rock pinnacles—known as hoodoos—that make the park so unique.Desktop Version
Sutherland Falls in Fiordland National Park
Sutherland Falls in Fiordland National Park
Sutherland Falls spills over the side of Lake Quill in the jagged, glacier-carved landscape of Fiordland National Park on New Zealand’s South Island. For years, it was believed to be the tallest waterfall in the world, thanks in part to a rough estimate by Scottish explorer Donald Sutherland, the first European to see the falls. Later, more scientific surveys proved this estimate to be significantly inflated, but Sutherland Falls is still 1,900 feet tall, which is plenty high in our book.Desktop Version
To the 155th on the 155th
To the 155th on the 155th
There are multiple monuments to the people who fought and died at the Battle of Gettysburg. Our photo shows the statue erected to honor the 155th Pennsylvania Infantry, a volunteer regiment that joined up with the Army of the Potomac, which was led by Union General George Meade. And 155 years ago today, the Confederate forces began to retreat to Virginia after three days of vicious combat. With total casualties on both sides of roughly 50,000 lives, the Battle of Gettysburg remains the most costly conflict in US history in terms of lives lost.Desktop Version
That s quite a schnoz, baby tapir
That s quite a schnoz, baby tapir
For World Tapir Day, we"re bringing you nose-to-nose with a baby South American tapir. The creamy stripes and dashes on its coat help keep this endangered calf camouflaged under the filtered light of the Amazon tree canopy. It may look small now, but mature tapirs are the largest native mammals in South America. About that nose: Tapirs use their prehensile nose trunk to grab plants and berries. And if they submerge under the surface of the water, some even use it as a snorkel.Desktop Version
New beginnings
New beginnings
Spring means more than just April showers and May flowers. It"s also the season when many baby animals are born. The rainy, warmer days bring new plant growth, which means nursing and foraging moms can provide their newborns with larger amounts of higher-quality food. It also maximizes the "growing season" for spring babies, giving them time to increase in size and put on fat before winter arrives.Desktop Version
Who s wearing such cute hats?
Who s wearing such cute hats?
The stone figures lining the steps in today"s photo are among 500 rakan statues on the small island of Miyajima in Japan. The colorful knitted caps they"re wearing are offerings from people visiting the island, a tradition followed in other areas of Japan as well. Some believe this gift-giving is based on a children"s folk story of an elderly hatmaker who was unable to make it to market on a snowy day, so he placed his collection of hats on rakan statues to keep their bare heads dry. Later, the statues showed their appreciation by delivering gifts to the hatmaker and his wife so they could celebrate the new year properly. The statues in this photo were individually carved sometime between the 1780s to the 1820s, and no two are alike. They line the path at the base of Mount Misen that leads to the Daisho-in Temple, one of the many temples and shrines on the island.Desktop Version
It’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball
It’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball
Our photo today shows a late September home game for the Oakland Athletics, going up against the Texas Rangers near the end of the 2017 Major League Baseball season. A new Major League season begins today, and this year marks the earliest Opening Day for MLB in the history of the organization. To top that, every team in the league is scheduled to play today—something that hasn’t happened on Opening Day since 1968. Which team do you root for?Desktop Version
An emerald isle of the Emerald Isle
An emerald isle of the Emerald Isle
If you were to find yourself wandering across the tiny island of Inisheer on March 17, you"d almost certainly hear someone greet you with a hearty "Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!" That"s because nearly all the island"s 260 residents would want to wish you a happy Saint Patrick"s Day in their native Irish tongue. The smallest of the three Aran Islands that are strung across the mouth of Galway Bay in western Ireland, Inisheer has been inhabited from prehistory—artifacts from as early as the Bronze Age have been found scattered around its 1,400 acres. The tiny drystone wall subdivisions of the fields are a result of a long tradition of splitting family farms between all the children. After a few generations, farms were reduced to the garden-size patches you can see here.Desktop Version
Shadows on the solstice
Shadows on the solstice
Roughly 5,000 years ago, ancient inhabitants of the British Isles somehow dragged as many as 40 giant stones—the heaviest weighing an estimated 16 tons—onto this grassy plateau in what is now England"s Lake District National Park in Cumbria. They then grouped them into the stone circle at Castlerigg, seen here casting shadows from the low winter sun. Archeologists believe stone circles were arranged to align with solar and lunar positions. They were used in elaborate rituals to celebrate occasions like today"s winter solstice, the shortest day (and longest night) of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.Desktop Version
Gazing down on planet Earth
Gazing down on planet Earth
It"s Earth Day today and we are high above the blue marble looking down on the border between Arkansas and Mississippi. Those small, blocky shapes are towns, fields, and pastures, and the teal green is the mighty Mississippi River. Anyone who has flown in the window seat of an airplane and gazed down at Earth below might wonder why the colors in this image look so unreal. That"s because they are. This image was taken in 2013 by Landsat 7, a NASA satellite that uses thermal infrared sensors to help scientists better distinguish flora, fauna, water, and manmade objects. For almost 50 years, NASA has been using satellite imagery to understand how climate change and population growth are affecting our fragile planet. These satellites help NASA see where deforestation and wildfires are happening, where glaciers are melting, and how rising waters are encroaching on cities.Desktop Version