Mt Fuji & Japanese Red Maple

I’ve always loved Japanese red maples.

Saw this photo the other day and it simply took my breath away.

Mount Fuji with Japanese red maples.

So beautiful!

 

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Awe-Inspiring Trees (24): Lake Carezza, Italy

It’s not only the old fir trees that make this photo so awe-inspiring. It’s the clouds across the Dolomite mountains in the background. But most importantly, it is the fact that the image is reflected in waters of Lake Carezza (lit. ‘caress’) with circular ripples moving outwards.

(Photograph by Antonio Chiumenti)

“Lake Carezza is a pearl of the Dolomites. Nestled between an ancient forest of grand firs and Latemar mountain, it’s a place of legends and beauty—a nymph lives under its emerald waters. I threw a little stone in the water to add a little mystery to the scene.” (Antonio Chiumenti)

(This photo and caption were submitted to the 2013 National Geographic Photo Contest.)

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Emus Take Over Australian Town

Thanks to intrepid science reporter Danielle Elliot!

As she reports in the Weird & Wild section at the National Geographic, an influx of emus is starting to take over a town in Queensland, Australia.

Shopkeepers in any downtown area love foot traffic, right? It’s the key to business.

But what if that traffic isn’t full of potential shoppers. What if, instead, it’s a flock of large birds strutting their stuff down the sidewalks?

That’s the scene these days in Longreach, Queensland; an influx of emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae) is starting to take over the town.

“They were waltzing up and down the street, drinking from the puddles and having a nibble in the garden beds at a council redevelopment site down the road. They were making themselves right at home,” gallery and coffee shop owner Deb Scott told The Australian.

Local experts say the emus are looking for food, but drivers are more concerned that they’re going to end up as road kill—someone forgot to teach them to look both ways before crossing the street.

“They are taking absolutely no notice of the people, or the cars or dogs,” Longreach Mayor Joe Owens told the Australian Broadcasting Company. “When they are crossing the street, people have to stop for them. They just toddle across as they please.”

And that’s posing a challenge for drivers, considering their long legs allow them to sprint at 31 miles per hour and cover up to nine feet in a single stride. The largest bird native to Australia, they have soft brown feathers, but they never take flight. (Related: “The Great Emu Caper.”)

The emus have been circling the outlying areas of town for a few months, the ABC reports, but this is the first time they’ve ventured into the more densely populated town center.

Under normal conditions, emus stick to the brush, feasting on seeds, grass, and insects. They can last several weeks without a meal, but higher-than-average temperatures and an extended drought have left them on the hunt.

“The [kangaroos] and the emus are just desperately seeking something to eat and a bit of greenery, so they are marching in and getting it wherever they can,” naturalist Angus Emmott told ABC.

As the drought continues, there’s no telling when the emus will leave the main areas of town, but one thing’s for sure: It’s not every day that you get to share a sidewalk with an emu.

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Danielle Elliot is a multimedia producer and writer who earned her chops reporting and producing for networks, start-ups, and everything in between. A graduate of the University of Maryland, she covered tennis and Olympic figure skating for a few years before earning an M.A. in Science and Health Journalism at Columbia University.

Follow her on Twitter.

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Awe-Inspiring Trees (23): Shrouded Forest, Slovakia

And by awe-inspiring, I sometimes mean creepy!

Shrouded Forest, Slovakia

(Image: via bluepueblo.tumblr.com)

And I don’t mean creepy in a negative way. I mean creepy in a delightfully goose-bumpy way!

Love it!

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Awe-Inspiring Trees (21): Dark Hedges, County Antrim

Dark Hedges, County Antrim

Sometimes I come across some awe-inspiring trees and one photograph alone simply does not do them justice.

(Image: globaltraveltorusim.blogspot.co.uk)

Such is the case with the Dark Hedges in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

(Photo by Pawel Klarecki)

This beautiful avenue of beech trees was planted by the Stuart family in the eighteenth century

(Via globaltraveltorusim.blogspot.co.uk)

It is one of the most photographed natural phenomena in Northern Ireland.

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Awe-Inspiring Trees (20): Oak Alley Plantation, Louisiana

Oak Alley Plantation, Louisiana

This magnificent ‘tree tunnel’ is situated on the banks of the Mississippi River

(Credit: i.mgur.com)

The canopied path is created by a double row of live oaks that was planted in the early 1700’s, long before the present house was built.

Yet one more reason why I miss The South!

The above text is based on the article “14 Magnificent Tree Tunnels” at Buzzfeed.com.

For a full-resolution image, click here.

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Please visit Oak Alley Plantation at their website and on their Facebook page!

Website: http://www.oakalleyplantation.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/oakalleyplantation

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Awe-Inspiring Trees (19): Bamboo Path, Kyoto, Japan

The Sagano Bamboo Forest is located in Arashiyama, a nationally-designated historic site. The pathway you see in the picture below is 500m long, and runs through one of Japan’s most beautiful bamboo forests.

No wonder the Agency for Cultural Affairs declared Arashiyama a “Place of Scenic Beauty”. This forest is close to many famous temple and shrines, including the Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple.

The sound the wind makes, as it blows through the tall bamboo trees, has been voted by the Japanese authorities as one of 100 must-preserve sounds of Japan.

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The text is from ‘10 Amazing Tree Tunnels in the World‘ at AmazingWorldStuffs.com.

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Awesome Trees (13): Largest Living Xmas Tree (Wilmington, NC)

The World’s Largest Living Christmas Tree (Wilmington, NC)

“The World’s Largest Living Christmas Tree,” shown here on a rare snowy day, was a project of James E. L. Wade, Commissioner of Public Works. He thought the enormous oak on Wilmington’s north side, was appropriate particularly because Hilton Park, where it is rooted, was Wilmington’s first playground for children. “Hugh MacRae’s Tide Water Power Company furnished all labor, most of the wiring and 750 light globes for the tree,” reported the Morning Star, Christmas Eve, 1929. “The moss in the tree, if it were carried away, would take three 2-ton trucks to do the work.”

(Image Credit: Louis T. Moore)

Prizes were awarded under the tree for outdoor decorations across town, a contest also instituted by James E. L. Wade. In 1929, judges included Mrs. Walter Sprunt, Mrs. J. B. Cranmer, Mrs. Henry Peschau and Mrs. R. C. Cantwell. In 1930, the giant Hilton Christmas tree was declared “the most beautiful of its kind in the state and nation” by the National Federation of Women’s Clubs.

On January 1, 1933, 5000 people gathered at the tree to hear “a program presented by negro residents of the city.” Participants from Williston High School Glee Club and St. Stephen’s, St. Luke’s and Central Baptist churches mesmerized the crowd; city fathers requested an encore performance the following evening.

In 1935, the city added fireworks shows near the tree and strung 2800 25-watt bulbs across town.

Motorists cruised the city, from Dry Pond to Hilton, during New Year’s celebrations in the early 1930s. Celebrants dragged cowbells and tin cans tied to their rear axles and “let them bump deliciously along the streets,” according to newspaper reports. “At midnight, there was the usual wild outburst. Bells clanged, horns tooted, sirens shrieked, firecrackers roared, pistols barked – so did the dogs.”

After eighty years of Yuletide glowing, the World’s Largest Living Christmas Tree was lit for the last time in 2009. Natural elements and concrete encroachments took their toll.

I had the sincere pleasure of visiting this magnificent oak tree several times together with my beloved CBW and, once on New Years Eve, with CBW and our children (her son and my kiddie-winkers). Rest assured, the countdown to midnight was followed shortly thereafter by a hearty stew of kosher hot dogs and black eyed peas. After all, The South IS The South!

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The above text (aside from my personal not at the end) is from the ‘Wilmington Outskirts’ section of Wilmington Through the Lens of Louis T. Moore by Susan Taylor Block. Published by the Historical Society of the Lower Cape Fear and New Hanover County Public Library. Mr. Moore’s panoramic photographs of Wilmington, North Carolina and surrounding areas document history; preserve what is lost in terms of people, architecture, and landscapes; and create a mood. Just as his camera was considered hi-tech during the 1920s in Wilmington, we think Louis T. Moore would smile if he knew his photographs were appearing in cyberspace.

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Awesome Trees (12): The Tule Tree (Oaxaca, Mexico)

El Árbol del Tule (“The Tule Tree”) is an especially large Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) near the city of Oaxaca, Mexico.

El Árbol del Tule

This tree has the largest trunk girth at 190 feet (58 m) and trunk diameter at 37 feet (11.3 m). The Tule tree is so thick that people say you don’t hug this tree, it hugs you instead!

(Image credit: jubilohaku)

For a while, detractors argued that it was actually three trees masquerading as one – however, careful DNA analysis confirmed that it is indeed one magnificent tree.

(Image credit: Gengiskanhg)

In 1994, the tree (and Mexican pride) were in jeopardy: the leaves were sickly yellow and there were dead branches everywhere- the tree appeared to be dying. When tree “doctors” were called in, they diagnosed the problem as dying of thirst. The prescription? Give it water. Sure enough, the tree soon recovered after a careful watering program was followed.

(Image credit: jvcluis)

Amazing. And… awesome!

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Awesome Trees (11): Lone Cypress, Monterey, California

I had the pleasure of seeing this tree in 1985 when going down the coast road from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Lone Cypress, Monterey, California

(Credit: commons.wikipedia.org)

Buffeted by the cold Pacific Ocean wind, the scraggly Lone Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) in Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula, California, isn’t a particularly large tree.

It makes up for its small size, however, with its iconic status as a stunningly beautiful tree in splendid isolation, framed by an even more beautiful background of the Pacific Ocean.

It’s not the biggest tree in the world. It’s not the most beautiful.

But it is… awesome!

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