A Brandt's Cormorant tends to its built on sea cliffs. Note the colors it assumes during mating season: striking blue gular pouch (throat) along with faint blue-green iridescence in its plumage.
Species: Brandt's cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 40140
The Preacher and the Pulpit, a pair of freestanding sandstone columns in the Temple of Sinawava, are surrounded by cottonwoods with their deep green spring foliage. Zion Canyon.
Location: Zion National Park, Utah
Image ID: 12501
Cottonwoods with their deep green spring foliage contrast with the rich red Navaho sandstone cliffs of Zion Canyon.
Location: Zion National Park, Utah
Image ID: 12509
Banded iguana, male. The bands of color on the male of this species change from green to either blue, grey or black, depending on mood. Females are usually solid green, ocassionally with blue spots or a few narrow bands.
Species: Banded iguana, Brachylophus fasciatus
Image ID: 12612
Soda Springs Basin in Canyonlands National Park, snow covered mesas and canyons, with the Green River far below, not far from its confluence with the Colorado River. Island in the Sky.
Location: Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Image ID: 18093
Soda Springs Basin from Green River Overlook, Island in the Sky, Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
Location: Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Image ID: 27840
A garibaldi fish (orange), surf grass (green) and palm kelp (brown) on the rocky reef -- all appearing blurred in this time exposure -- are tossed back and forth by powerful ocean waves passing by above. San Clemente Island.
Species: Surfgrass, Hypsypops rubicundus, Phyllospadix
Location: San Clemente Island, California
Image ID: 10238
A sea otter eats a clam that it has taken from the shallow sandy bottom of Elkhorn Slough. Because sea otters have such a high metabolic rate, they eat up to 30% of their body weight each day in the form of clams, mussels, urchins, crabs and abalone. Sea otters are the only known tool-using marine mammal, using a stone or old shell to open the shells of their prey as they float on their backs.
Species: Sea otter, Enhydra lutris
Location: Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Landing, California
Image ID: 21612
Colorful and exotic coral reef in Fiji, with soft corals, hard corals, anthias fishes, anemones, and sea fan gorgonians.
Species: Anthias, Pseudanthias
Location: Fiji
Image ID: 34941