Happy Thought for 8 December 2023

Have a Happy Thought:

 

We’re winding down to the end of the year, which means lots of “best of the year” competitions are publishing their winners. Which means I get to bring to you some more stunning nature photography:

 

First-off: bees.

 

 

Image: Dawson’s burrowing bee (Amegilla dawsoni) / Kennedy Range, Western Australia, Daniel Jones

 

 

 

Image: A relocating swarm of bees in Staffordshire, UK , Lucy Monckton

 

And if you want videos of bees, as well as possibly the most calming voice you could ever think of, check out the social media channels of Erika Thompson / texasbeeworks. Or just google “Another great day of saving the bees.” You will thank me!

 

 

Next up: Underwater

 

 

Image: California Sea Lion. Simon Biddie

 

 

 

Image: Giant cuttlefish (Sepia apama) / Whyalla, South Australia, Matty Smith

 

 

Next up, animals in normally-reserved-for-humans spaces

 

 

Image: Green tree frog (Litoria caerulea) / Walgett, New South Wales, Tom Edmunds

 

 

 

Image: Jaguar, Mexico. Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar

 

 

 

Image: Blackbirds, Slovakia. Igor Mikula

 

 

And finally, can’t-tell-the-scale-without-reading-the-description.

 

 

Image: Joseph Bonaparte Gulf flood plains, Northern Territory, Tania Malkin

 

 

 

 

Image: Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory, Luke Tscharke

 

 

 

Image: Carpenter ants in the Black Mountain Nature Reserve in Canberra, Yicai Chang.

 

 

 

 

Image: Wild boar under the Milky Way, Hungary. Bence Mate

 

 

 For more, check out the full list of winners at the Nature TTL Photographer of the Year awards https://www.naturettl.com/poty/2023-winners/

And the Australian Geographic Nature photographer of the year: https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/photography/nature-photographer-of-the-year/2023/08/winners-2023-australian-geographic-nature-photographer-of-the-year/