The Earth Story

Flying through a Rainbow

A rainbow and a flock of Canada geese provided an incredible photo opportunity at Morris Wetland Management District in Minnesota. According to the photographer, there were so many of the birds around that he just had to wait for some to give him the shot he wanted.

Rainbows form when water droplets are present with a light source, such as sunlight, that strikes the water at a 42-degree angle. When the light enters the droplets it’s refracted, or bent. It’s then reflected back out of the droplet, where it’s refracted again at multiple angles causing the color spectrum to appear.

Photo Credit: Alex Galt, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service http://bit.ly/2qJLIW4

Morning mist

High we fly Soaring to heights greater than 8000m, the Himalayas may be tall enough to alter the wind patterns in the Indian Subcontinent. But, it is not enough to hold back the Bar Headed Geese. Bar Headed Geese are the highest flying migratory birds and can reach heights of 9000m. Every spring, they fly from their winter feeding grounds in the lowlands of India to their nesting grounds in Tibet. They do take occasional stops during their migration, but the Himalayan part of their journey is covered in a single non-stop effort taking 8 hours on average. No matter what obstacles come in their way, whatever adverse conditions are imposed upon them, they never stray from their journey. They teach us a lesson. Don’t they? -TT (Photo Source: http://ohscience.tumblr.com/post/9287101705/the-bar-headed-goose-completes-its-migration-of Article References:  1. BBC – Planet Earth: Mountains - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074sg0 2. http://archive.audubonmagazine.org/birds/birds0011.html  For further study:  1. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=olympians-of-the-sky 2. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/06/110610-highest-flying-birds-geese-himalaya-mountains-animals/)