Beautiful Nature pics

[Bill Ryan]

A looping bolt of lightning that struck near Hager City, Wisconsin on 31 May 2019. This has never been seen before or since, and the photo is unique.

[Eva2]

'A curious jumping spider sporting a water droplet on its head, beautifully reflecting the flower behind it. 🌸🕷️
📸 Photo by David Alejandro Narváez'

[Bill Ryan]

A jaguar swimming with her cub in the Pantanal, Brazil, the world's largest tropical wetland.

[Eva2]

A curious and interesting plant - nature has some amazing creations:

"The Miracle of the Namib Desert'

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZG0uI9Rwy...fF0ibPriEeTNgg

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZG0uI9Rwyis

[onawah]

Beauty Of Planet Earth
Incredible capture of a bright green meteor ☄️
📍: Mettupalayam in South India
📸Credit: Taken by molecular ecologist and photographer Prasenjeet Yadav.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=...44713927014537

[Eva2]

'The Haleakalā silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense subsp. macrocephalum), found only on the high slopes of Maui’s Haleakalā volcano is a rare alpine plant that blooms just once in its lifetime. For decades, it waits in silence, its shimmering silver leaves gathering sunlight in the thin mountain air. Then, without warning and only once in its life, it blooms.
According to National Park Service, this event typically occurs after 20 to 50 years though some may flower as early as 7 years depending on environmental conditions. This final act of beauty lasts only about seven days. And then, having poured every ounce of stored energy into reproduction, the plant dies. It’s a symbol of endurance, timing, and the profound rewards of waiting. In a world driven by urgency, it stands as a quiet reminder: some of nature’s most magnificent displays require a lifetime to unfold.'

[rgray222]

[rgray222]

This video was titled Plasma Lightning, I belive it to be real but there is no way to actually know for sure.

[rgray222]

The Aurora in real time

[Paul D.]

It took Italian astrophotographer Marcella Julia Pace 10 years to capture these 48 colors of the Moon.


Her brilliant website.

https://greenflash.photo/portfolio/

[Bill Ryan]

[rgray222]

A globular ray, also known as ball lightning, is a rare and mysterious atmospheric phenomenon characterized by a luminous, spherical ball of light that typically appears during thunderstorms. These light spheres can vary significantly in size, ranging from a few centimetres to several meters in diameter, and exhibit a range of colors, including bright white, yellow, red, blue, and even green. Unlike conventional lightning, which follows a linear path between clouds or between a cloud and the ground, globular rays move erratically and often slowly through the air, sometimes near the ground, and can last for several seconds before vanishing, sometimes with a small explosion.

[Paul D.]

Here's a couple of my favourites from this year's Bird Photographer of The Year.
Captured birdsong...brilliant !




'Voice of the Ash Forest' by Maxime Legare-Vezina




'Feasting at Sunset' by Franco Banfi

The rest of the winners - https://www.birdpoty.com/2025-winners

[Bill Ryan]

A gorgeous selection from several recent years of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year:

[grapevine]

Posted by rgray222 (here)
A globular ray, also known as ball lightning, is a rare and mysterious atmospheric phenomenon characterized by a luminous, spherical ball of light that typically appears during thunderstorms. These light spheres can vary significantly in size, ranging from a few centimetres to several meters in diameter, and exhibit a range of colors, including bright white, yellow, red, blue, and even green. Unlike conventional lightning, which follows a linear path between clouds or between a cloud and the ground, globular rays move erratically and often slowly through the air, sometimes near the ground, and can last for several seconds before vanishing, sometimes with a small explosion.

wow rgray222. Years go my mother told me she was doing the ironing in the kitchen during an electrical storm back in 1950 before I was born, when a large (not as large as the one above) floated in the back door. As she stood there mesermerised, my grandmother shouted at her to leave it while it hovered around the kitchen for a few seconds and then suddenly accellerated back out of the door with a huge bang! She said it seemed alive and intelligent. I've always been enthralled by that story and thanks to you I've just seen the sheer power of it . . .

[rgray222]

Étretat, France - Here's what the French want you to know about this place
A landscape unlike any other in the world! - On the Alabaster Coast

The cliffs and rock formations steal the show in Etretat, thanks to their exceptional natural beauty and the fact that famous Impressionists painted them so memorably. Erosion has created extraordinary arches in the chalk either side of the town. There’s also an amazing needle-like structure, known in French as the Aiguille. A walk up the cliffs to the west of Etretat leads you to an 18-hole golf course with breath-taking views over the Aiguille, while a walk to the east will bring you to the Jardins d’Etretat, a beautiful Asian-inspired garden affording stunning views over Etretat and its bay across to the Aval arch famously immortalised by Claude Monet and Eugène Boudin. Head back down to the seafront as the sun goes down and you can also see Etretat’s cliffs magically light up.

However, there is more to Etretat than the cliff formations and pebble beach. The small town beyond is picturesque and full of pretty restaurants and shops, while the remarkable wooden covered market and 19th-century villa Le Clos Lupin are both worth a visit.



Winter Sun in Iceland

[Ewan]

Inspiration from Bill's recent posts...

Oh my poor old back.



A 'Sliding Doors' moment



Hallo Darling



What time do you call this?



No, YOU go back!



The Winners are....

[Ewan]

And the extremes Wildlife Photographers go to for their images.

https://thisbugslife.com/2017/10/24/...-photographer/

[rgray222]

[Johnnycomelately]

Here’s a moving pic, a livestream of volcano Kīlauea, Hawaii.

At time of this post, looks like the sun is setting on the Hawaiian Islands. Been dark for over two hours here in the Mountain time zone.

Two days ago this mountain was rage-spewing hot bright rivers of liquid rock. Now, dreamy smoke is saying “hey, what’s up fam, you OK?”.

V3cam] Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (south Halemaʻumaʻu crater)

USGS

276K subscribers

Started streaming on May 16, 2025

Live view from Halemaʻumaʻu crater from the southern rim of the caldera [V3cam]. This camera is a pan-tilt-zoom model and the view may change depending on activity.

Other livestream views of eruption:

[V1cam] Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (west Halemaʻumaʻu crater): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk0tf...

[V2cam] Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (east Halemaʻumaʻu crater): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiytt...

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BqmpkUdMtyA