Photo of the Day 5 May 2008

Migrating Monarchs, El Rosario Preserve, Mexico, 2004
Photograph by Peter Essick

A colony of monarch butterflies clings to a tree in the El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve in the mountains of central Mexico. The Mexican government is working to encourage tourism and discourage illegal logging in the preserve, where millions of these delicate orange-and-black butterflies come to nest each winter.

Photo of the Day 4 May 2008

Tie-Dyed Fabric, Jaipur, India, 1999
Photograph by Cary Wolinsky

Tie-dyed fabric is hung to dry from a roof in Jaipur, India. Such Indian textiles are among the richest craft legacies on Earth, encompassing literally thousands of local styles and techniques.

Photo of the Day 3 May 2008

Afar Goat Herders, Ethiopia, 2005
Photograph by Carsten Peter

Afar goat herders use a reed mat to shield their campfire from the steady winds of the Ethiopian Danakil Desert. The Afar are a nomadic people who drive their camels, donkeys, and goats in search of the region's scant pasturelands. Centuries of defending their territory and their herds has made them fierce. One Afar custom, now defunct, declared a man could not marry without first killing an enemy tribesman.

Photo of the Day 2 May 2008

Hatchling Alligators, Big Cypress Swamp, Florida, 1994
Photograph by Chris Johns

Hatchling alligators break free of their shells in Big Cypress Swamp in the Florida Everglades. Babies who have trouble emerging get a surprisingly delicate assist from the tooth-lined jaws of their mother.

Photo of the Day 1 May 2008

Tundra Village, Moriusaq, Greenland, 2006
Photograph by David McLain

The tiny village of Moriusaq stands on the frozen landscape of northwest Greenland. The sea ice near this settlement used to be thick enough to travel and hunt on for hundreds of miles for up to ten months. Recently though, climate change has reduced this crucial window to just a few weeks each year.

Photo of the Day 30 April 2008

Paragliders in the Clouds, Mount Fuji, Japan, 2002
Photograph by Karen Kasmauski

Paragliders float through the clouds that surround snowcapped Mount Fuji in Japan. At 12,388 feet (3,776 meters), Fuji is Japan's highest peak. But its relatively easy-to-scale flanks draw flocks of amateur climbers to its summit—some 400,000 every year.

Photo of the Day 29 April 2008

Lightning Behind Chimney Rock, Colorado, 1989
Photograph by James L. Amos
Trails of lightning backlight Chimney Rock in southwest Colorado's San Juan National Forest. Home to ancestors of the Pueblo Indians more than 1,000 years ago, the area around Chimney Rock has been a designated archaeological area and national historic site since 1970.

Photo of the Day 28 April 2008

Irrigation Fields, Qatar, 2003
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
Irrigated crop fields stand out starkly against an expanse of Qatari desert. Such farms provide Qataris with some fruits and vegetables, but most of their food is imported. Government efforts to increase domestic agriculture are complicated by the paucity of fresh water in this parched desert nation.

Photo of the Day 27 April 2008

Horse Herders, Darhad Valley, Mongolia, 2003
Photograph by Gordon Wiltsie
Mongolian herdsmen drive horses back into the Darhad Valley after wintering on the other side of the 10,000-foot (3,000-meter) mountains that rise in the background. People have moved their herds over these mountains for generations. But a government effort to transition Mongolia's nomadic people to more stable urban lives could soon mean the end of this twice-yearly trek.

Photo of the Day 26 April 2008

Mudbrick Houses, Shibam, Yemen, 2005
Photograph by George Steinmetz

The city of Shibam, Yemen, rises from the Rub al Khali, or Empty Quarter, a sea of sand that occupies one-fifth of the Arabian Peninsula. The distinctive mud-brick skyscrapers that house Shibam's 5,000 residents have earned the city its nickname: "Manhattan of the Desert."