Sunshine Squash at a farm produce market
© 167/Pete Ryan/Ocean/Corbis
Sunshine Squash at a farm produce market
Though it may seem like woodpeckers are out to destroy trees by boring holes in them with their namesake behavior, these birds are actually crucial to the survival of forests. Many species drill into dead, decaying trees as they search for grubs and small insects within. And those that peck at living trees are actually helping to prevent pest infestations that might otherwise destroy a tree. The tree can survive the holes drilled by the woodpecker’s beak, and the birds gobble up termites and other insects that are a bane to the tree’s health.
Gangi, Sicily, Italy
Skylight into an active lava tube, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii
Robin's nest with a brown-headed cowbird egg
Jaguar in the Pantanal wetlands, Brazil
Plumeria flowers in Hawaii
Rocky shoreline in Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, Quebec, Canada
Nienhagen Wood in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Totems of Thunderbird Park in winter, Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
