Newborn harbor seal pup watches a Western seagull approach. The gull is trying to pick at placenta on the sandy beach as the seal pup, born just moments before, watches and tries to understand what is going on. Within an hour of being born, this pup had learned to nurse and had entered the ocean for its first swim.
Species: Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardsi
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 39076
The Fire Wave by Moonlight, stars and the night sky, Valley of Fire State Park.
Location: Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
Image ID: 28442
Panorama dimensions: 6250 x 6887
Colorful anemones and soft corals, bryozoans and kelp cover the rocky reef in a kelp forest near Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Strait. Strong currents bring nutrients to the invertebrate life clinging to the rocks.
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Image ID: 34328
Colorful anemones and soft corals, bryozoans and kelp cover the rocky reef in a kelp forest near Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Strait. Strong currents bring nutrients to the invertebrate life clinging to the rocks.
Species: Giant plumose anemone, Metridium farcimen
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Image ID: 34332
Colorful anemones and soft corals, bryozoans and kelp cover the rocky reef in a kelp forest near Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Strait. Strong currents bring nutrients to the invertebrate life clinging to the rocks.
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Image ID: 34333
The Botanical Building in Balboa Park, San Diego. The Botanical Building, at 250 feet long by 75 feet wide and 60 feet tall, was the largest wood lath structure in the world when it was built in 1915 for the Panama-California Exposition. The Botanical Building, located on the Prado, west of the Museum of Art, contains about 2,100 permanent tropical plants along with changing seasonal flowers. The Lily Pond, just south of the Botanical Building, is an eloquent example of the use of reflecting pools to enhance architecture. The 193' by 43' foot pond and smaller companion pool were originally referred to as Las Lagunas de las Flores (The Lakes of the Flowers) and were designed as aquatic gardens. The pools contain exotic water lilies and lotus which bloom spring through fall.
Location: Balboa Park, San Diego, California
Image ID: 28823
Two Western Grebes in a Spectacular Rush Across the Surface of Lake Wohlford. Rushing is a courtship behavior among grebes and requires the aquatic birds to step as rapidly as 20 beats per second to walk across water in this way. Simply amazing.
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California
Image ID: 40867
Western Grebes rushing in a courtship display. Rushing grebes run across the water 60 feet (20m) or further with their feet hitting the water as rapidly as 20 times per second. Lake Hodges, San Diego.
Species: Western grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Image ID: 36887