Bio-luminescence in the tide makes walking along the beach on Vaadhoo Island in the Maldives especially magical. The light is emitted from tiny plankton in the water.
Awash in light —
Bio-luminescence in the tide makes walking along the beach on Vaadhoo Island in the Maldives especially magical. The light is emitted from tiny plankton in the water.
Doug Perrine/Barcroft Media /Landov
The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico's Michoacan state is a winter home to tens of millions of butterflies.
Millions of flapping wings —
The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico's Michoacan state is a winter home to tens of millions of butterflies.
shutterstock
The aurora borealis lights up the night sky in Lofoten, Norway. The spectacular shows occur when charged particles from the solar wind interact with the Earth's atmosphere at the magnetic poles.
Polar flashes —
The aurora borealis lights up the night sky in Lofoten, Norway. The spectacular shows occur when charged particles from the solar wind interact with the Earth's atmosphere at the magnetic poles.
Kerstin Langenberger / Barcroft Media / Getty Images
Cherry blossoms usher in spring in Jinhae in Changwon City, South Korea. The city's cherry blossom festival is South Korea's largest.
A delicate display —
Cherry blossoms usher in spring in Jinhae in Changwon City, South Korea. The city's cherry blossom festival is South Korea's largest.
YONHAP/EPA/LANDOV
The cracking of mammoth chunks of ice in Alaska's Glacier Bay is a sight -- and sound -- to behold.
The thaw —
The cracking of mammoth chunks of ice in Alaska's Glacier Bay is a sight -- and sound -- to behold.
shutterstock
Mount Yasur puts on fiery displays on Tanna Island in Vanuatu.
Natural fireworks —
Mount Yasur puts on fiery displays on Tanna Island in Vanuatu.
Patrick Dancel/Flickr/Getty images
Sometimes nature and man-made endeavors overlap, as is the case at the Galtaji temple complex near Jaipur, India. One of the temples is known as Monkey Temple after the area's resident monkey tribes.
Meeting the locals —
Sometimes nature and man-made endeavors overlap, as is the case at the Galtaji temple complex near Jaipur, India. One of the temples is known as Monkey Temple after the area's resident monkey tribes.
Joanna-Palys/iStockphoto/Getty images
From March through May, millions of tulips draw visitors to Keukenhof Gardens near Lisse, Netherlands.
Art of flowers —
From March through May, millions of tulips draw visitors to Keukenhof Gardens near Lisse, Netherlands.
Courtesy Keukenhof Gardens
At Alaska's Katmai National Park a brown bear grapples with his slippery dinner. The sockeye salmon run starts here in late June and the bears come out for dinner.
Thrill of the chase —
At Alaska's Katmai National Park a brown bear grapples with his slippery dinner. The sockeye salmon run starts here in late June and the bears come out for dinner.
Jon Cornforth / Barcroft Media /Getty Images
Yellowstone National Park's geysers are the result of subterranean plumbing constrictions and water heated by magma under the Earth's surface.
Plumbing malfunction —
Yellowstone National Park's geysers are the result of subterranean plumbing constrictions and water heated by magma under the Earth's surface.
shuttersock
Wildebeest cross the Masai Mara River in Kenya. More than a million travel between Tanzania and Kenya each year during the Great Migration in search of food, water and breeding grounds.
Race for survival —
Wildebeest cross the Masai Mara River in Kenya. More than a million travel between Tanzania and Kenya each year during the Great Migration in search of food, water and breeding grounds.
shutterstock
A meteor streaks past the faint band of the Milky Way galaxy above the Wyoming countryside during the 2013 Perseid meteor shower. The show happens each summer when Earth rotates through debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet.
Summer rotation —
A meteor streaks past the faint band of the Milky Way galaxy above the Wyoming countryside during the 2013 Perseid meteor shower. The show happens each summer when Earth rotates through debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet.
Blaine McCartney/The Wyoming Tribune Eagle/AP
Victoria Falls, on the Zimbabwe-Zambia border, is the world's largest sheet of falling water.
Wall of water —
Victoria Falls, on the Zimbabwe-Zambia border, is the world's largest sheet of falling water.
MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images
Sipadan Island in Malaysia is home to a huge school of barracuda, often seen in a swirling vortex formation.
Fish tornado —
Sipadan Island in Malaysia is home to a huge school of barracuda, often seen in a swirling vortex formation.
Perspectives/Getty Images
Hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes migrate each year and many gather in early spring on the Platte River in Nebraska.
Time to fly —
Hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes migrate each year and many gather in early spring on the Platte River in Nebraska.
Ryan McGinnis/Flickr RF/Getty Images