Tag Archives: photo contest

An osprey perched on a power line with an American flag flying in the background

Take 5: America the Beautiful

What is it that makes America so beautiful? Our breathtaking lands and wildlife, of course!

To celebrate our nation’s 243rd birthday this week, here are five photos from our annual Picture This: Your Great Outdoors photo contest, each of which includes an appearance by the American flag as well as some wildlife and scenic habitats from the lands we hold so dear.

Learn more about our work to conserve our most precious land here in Massachusetts and submit your own photos to the photo contest today!

A wild turkey walks through a field of grass filled with small American flags
Wild Turkey © Marie Riva
The American flag flies in the foreground over a tidal flat with kayakers in the mid-ground and the ocean in the background.
© Greg Stokinger
A Red-tailed hawk perches on a rock in the garden of a home with an American flag in the foreground and patriotic bunting behind it.
Red-tailed Hawk © Gail Sartori
The American flag flies over a green tractor in a field of sunflowers
© Jen Shepherd
An osprey perched on a power line with an American flag flying in the background
Osprey © Steve DiGiandomenico
Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly © Christine St. Andre

Take 5: Beloved Butterflies

What creature so embodies the bright, warm, joyous season of summer quite like the butterfly? Although we typically picture butterflies flitting about in colorful fields of wildflowers—and rightly so!—these fascinating insects live in a broad spectrum of habitats including forests, heathlands, bogs, swamps, even salt marshes—anywhere, in fact, where their caterpillar food plants and sources of nectars for adults are found.

June is National Pollinators Month! Habitat loss, pesticide use, and other factors threaten many of the butterfly species we love and cherish, along with many of our other native pollinators. Learn about creating a pollinator garden and other ways you can help pollinators, including butterflies, on our website.

To honor some of nature’s most colorful and celebrated pollinators, here is a collection of gorgeous butterfly photographs from our annual Picture This: Your Great Outdoors photo contest. The 2019 photo contest is now open, so submit your nature photos today!

Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly © Christine St. Andre
Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly © Christine St. Andre
Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly © Jessie Fries
Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly © Jessie Fries
Eastern Comma Butterfly © Lena Mirisola
Eastern Comma Butterfly © Lena Mirisola
Black Swallowtail Butterfly © Mike Lowery
Black Swallowtail Butterfly © Mike Lowery
Painted Lady Butterfly © Sophia Sobel
Painted Lady Butterfly © Sophia Sobel