Now we see them, then
now we don’t these
tiny stars whose only hope
is that they will outlast

the night, if they stick
to it and burn, if they
blink again in the face
of the blind darkness.

from These Fireflies, by Sue Owen

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so this week, we’re going to let spectacular images of nature do the talking for Wild & Wondrous. Happy browsing!

The Big Pictures
Celebrating the diversity of life on Earth through the stunning work of photographers from around the world, the BigPicture Competition aims to inspire nature lovers to protect and conserve the beauty of the living world. Look at the winners!

The Tiny Pictures
If you’d like to see what a teeny tardigrade looks like or an extreme close-up of a bee’s eye or a slender sliver of a mosquito leg, scientific photographer Steve Gschmeissner has captured amazing images of tiny beauty with a scanning electron microscope. Courtesy of Nature, you can see them here.

The Bird Pictures
After reviewing 8,500 amazing entries, the eagle-eyed judges at the Audubon have announced the winners of the 2024 Photography Awards. Take a look at the best of this year’s batch of beautiful birds.

The Wall Pictures
If you like images of our feathered friends to be larger than life, the Audubon Mural Project in northern Manhattan now features 115 super-sized depictions of bird species impacted by climate change. You can see the big birds here.

The Tree Pictures
Nature photographer Beth Moon spent 14 years traveling across five continents to capture the mysterious beauty of Earth’s most majestic ancient trees and you can see her breathtaking black-and-white images here.

The Moving Pictures
In honor of Independence Day, a video celebrating the beauty of nature’s fireworks—bioluminescence.

Watch Firefly Experience