Distractions

📷 Karl Ramsdell

📷 Saul Freiden

Roseate Spoonbill

St.Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park

📷 Andy Rouse Photography

Young bat-eared fox

Phototaken in the Masai Mara

📷 James Mcquarrie

📷 Butch Fermil

The American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus), occasionally called the American pied oystercatcher, is a member of family Haematopodidae. Originally called the "sea pie", it was renamed in 1731 when naturalist Mark Catesby claimed that he had observed the bird eating oysters. The current population of American oystercatchers is estimated to be 50,000 – 99,999 mature individuals. There are estimated to be 1,500 breeding pairs along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the US. The bird is marked by its black and white body and a long, thick orange beak.

Credit: INFORMATION ABOUT BIRDS

📷 Malah Jean

📷 Dawn Key

📷 Tomas Slovinsky

Sleepy Leopard..

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Key Facts about Sargassum:

It stinks and it attracts bugs

Ecological Role: In the open ocean, particularly in the Sargasso Sea (the only sea without land boundaries), Sargassum forms a vital floating ecosystem that provides habitat for sea turtles, eels, shrimp, and fish.

Current Crisis: In recent years, massive blooms have occurred in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, stretching from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico.

Impact: When washed ashore in large quantities, the rotting seaweed releases hydrogen sulfide gas (smelling like rotten eggs), which harms public health, kills wildlife, and devastates tourism and fishing economies in the Caribbean and Florida.