Thursday's Task - 02/18/2021

AlanLichty said:

Easy one for me - the northwest forests:

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Douglas Sherman said:

Today's task will be images of your favorite ecosystem. This is an incredibly vast topic ranging from deserts, mountains, prairies, savannas, woodlands, etc. and even subdivisions within those groups.

Mine is going to be prairies, that are among the most diverse ecosystems in the world. It is often said that Rainforests are the most diverse but in fact it is coral reefs.

Hoary Puccoon (yellow), Bastard Toadflax (white), and Small White Lady's-slippers, Buffalo Grove Prairie, IL
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Butterfly-weed, State Lake Prairie, Chase County, KS
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Yellow Paintbrush and Phlox, Palouse Prairie, WA
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Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly on Purple Milkweed, Somme Prairie, IL
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Black-eyed Susan and Phlox, Kalsow Prairie, IA
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Jim Dockery said:

Wow, those first two are super dramatic Ken. The last one looks like a fun summer day - do you know those people?

Thanks Jim, the last one was taken on Iona in May when my wife was working for the Iona Community a Christian ecumenical community. I don't know the girls although I could probably find out as the island's population is 120 and everyone knows everyone else. Iona sits out in the Atlantic and requires 2 separate ferries and a bus journey from the mainland. It has its own weather system as it has no high hills and the wet Atlantic air often passes over before drenching nearby Mull. While my wife worked here she would swim in this little sound almost every day, I didn't tell her that I had seen Orca swimming past. The Scottish West coast often looks tropical even in February when this was taken but the snow has just melted after a fierce snow storm on Iona's Atlantic coast. Ken

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MonikaC said:

This was a tough one to figure out. Red rock desert? Mountains? Decided on the ocean -- while I love the others & can get there regularly, the ocean is what gives me a feeling of renewal. These first 2 are from P&S free diving days, taken off the coast of Maui. 3rd was off the coast of Norway, north of Tromso November 2019

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Jeffrey said:

I like a broad number of 'ecosystems', but I'd have to say that the Utah and adjoining deserts are top o' the list. Sometimes the nature of a part of the earth is defined not only by it's life but by it's death.

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MonikaC said:

This was a tough one to figure out. Red rock desert? Mountains? Decided on the ocean -- while I love the others & can get there regularly, the ocean is what gives me a feeling of renewal. These first 2 are from P&S free diving days, taken off the coast of Maui. 3rd was off the coast of Norway, north of Tromso November 2019

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dan swiger said:

Well, I have many favorites!
Coastal, foothills & the desert.


Calle Lillies along the Big Sur Coast - Even though not native, they thrive
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The ever present but unpredictable wildflowers in the Coyote hills
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Rare super-bloom, Death Valley

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John Holbrook said:

Red rock desert (images from Monument Valley Tribal Park)

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