Monday in Nature Weekly Photo March 10, 2014

<p>The snow monster waving goodbye as he melts away - Good Riddance!</p><div></div>

<p>Great photos again this week, hope mine is good enough.<br>

No winter in the Netherlands but spring has started;</p><div></div>

<p>Ready for Spring so there's something other than old leaves to shoot.</p><div></div>

<p>Thank you, John P!<br /> Thank you, Laura for hosting this thread, which is a pleasure to view each Monday.<br /> There are so many great shots here, but I have to say that Rick Bortnick's image is unique and incredible.<br /> Shun's gulls made me smile...unique shot.<br>

Marcel's crocuses give me hope...gorgeous!<br>

Anyway...it is finally warming up in upper Michigan...48 degrees today...a welcome change.<br /> What a nice collection of images!<br /> Thank you...everyone!<br /> Dick</p>

<p>Some fungi growing on a decaying log near Payne's Prairie State Park, Florida <br>

<a title="Florida Fungi by outwithmycameraVA, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/13070933034/"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3203/13070933034_c3dbe584b6_z.jpg" alt="Florida Fungi" width="640" height="430" /></a></p>

<p>Here in the UK the floods are mostly gone and spring is springing. But here is a part of a dead tree stump which caught my eye this week :</p><div></div>

<p>Greetings from the depths of northern Ontario.<br>

The good news is that it was not -30C this morning (a novelty of late).<br>

However, 15cm of this stuff arrived unexpectedly this afternoon (so far).<br>

Some speculate that the intense and prolonged cold this year will retard the advance of significant threats. It's likely wishful thinking. You will notice that the trees in the photo are mostly green ash. The emerald ash borer (species introduced from Asia) was only a few hundred km from here last summer.<br>

I'd say "let them freeze in hell" except I live here and will be doing the same (sigh)!</p>

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<p>Richard A., thank you, but it's the contributions of everyone posting here that makes MiN so enjoyable. I simply get things going and it's a pleasure to do so.<br>

Roberta the pelicans are gorgeous.<br>

John Rowsell, throughout this winter you have provided perspective on the cold. I don't know if the cold will hold the ash borer as bay. We have it here and it is quite problematic. I'm hoping for a reduction in the tic population Spring is coming, it really is.<br>

Marcel, your images are always "good enough". I always enjoy your flowers.<br>

Mark Kissel, I'd like to get a nice close up of that bird also. Maybe you will with that new Tammy.</p>

<p>I have escaped Idaho winter briefly with a trip to Hawaii. While hiking on Oahu I came across this large snail (about 4 inches long) which lives in a shell that looks more like a sea shell than the much less elegant shells of the ugly snails in my garden back home. Can anyone identify it?</p><div></div>

<p>Glenn, I'm pretty sure that's the invasive species known as the African Snail. They are abundant in parts of Florida as well.</p>

<p>thanks John........those turkey vultures have to be in Hinckley this Sunday........:)</p>

<p>http://cleveland.about.com/od/clevelandareaparks/p/buzzards.htm</p>

<p>Shun - if those seagulls are mating the species is in lots of trouble....</p>

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<p>Shun - if those seagulls are mating the species is in lots of trouble....</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Just because two birds are still trying to figure out how to do it is unlikely going to affect the entire specie. :-)</p>

<p>In that occasion, I captured some 50 or so image of those two gulls. I chose an image that has a more pleasing composition.</p>

<p>Pre or Post mating behavior?</p>

<p>Thanks Mark for the snail information. Hawaii has so many invasive species that it is often hard to tell without a guide book what is native and what should not be there.</p>

<p>It's still snowing here enough to close the roads. It seems my subject matter is limited to chickadees, nuthatches, squirrels and deer so I have decided to post a shot taken in warmer times. Here is a leopard frog cooling off in a backyard puddle which doubles as a favourite drinking fountain and birdbath for many of our flock.</p><div></div>