Bruce Weiskotten

Hi Satyen, unfortunately this is a cropped pic. There are at least 5 fish, 3 in the lower right, 1 just left of the stick in the middle & 1 with its curving in the upper right quarter. My iphone is crap for any close up or zoom shots, but it's usually the only camera I have on me when I'm out and about. All the water shots always focus on the reflective surface not in depth.

I get it. However, the app doesn't let me alter or delete the originally posted photos.

Dragonfly but which species I wouldn't know

Definitely looks like a Bird of Paradise - Strelizia regina, most likely

Thanks for the correction. I had wondered if it should be in the Arthropod category, but I wasn't sure.

Yes, it's called farro in Italy where it's used like wheat and also cooked up like pearled barley.

Apparently, a hazard materials spill happened off the coast of La Gorgona in the nearby Tuscan Archipelago just a few months before the die off of these crustaceans. I have no direct evidence that the two events are related; however, some 100 barrels of highly toxic waste were lost at sea and efforts to find and recover them have come to naught.

I've talked with a woman who has a degree in marine biology about this phenomenon. While she hasn't examined any examples she believes that these are a different species of mollusk from the Mediterranean mussel, but could not identify it specifically. I have still heard no explanation for the considerably large die-off.

Beautiful, awesome colored plummage

@ Emma, great site. Not being an experienced bird watcher it took me a few months to sort out the difference between the little egret and the great white heron which share the same habitat with the grey heron behind our house. I've never seen a snowy egret.