Bright yellow daisies
Birds,  Colour,  Flowers,  Nature Photo Challenge,  Themed galleries

Gallery: winter is dead

May 5, 2023 / 49 Comments

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,

She wore her greenest gown;

She turned to the south wind

And curtsied up and down.

She turned to the sunlight

And shook her yellow head,

And whispered to her neighbour:

‘Winter is dead.’

A. A. Milne, Daffodowndilly

All over the world the colour yellow is associated with the sun and its life-giving warmth. It’s the colour of optimism and the coming of spring sunshine. But it’s also an attention-getter. We humans use it for warnings, while the animal world does much the same. Those yellow and black stripes on a bee or wasp warn of its sting. And other animals, such as poisonous frogs and salamanders, use yellow in similar ways. More positively, flowers often use the colour to attract pollinators, whether they are yellow all over or just in their centre.

As A. A. Milne describes so well, here in the Northern Hemisphere at this time of year we associate yellow with spring flowers such as daffodils. They are already past their best, but I have some in my archives to share with Denzil for his colour-themed Nature Photo challenge, as well as plenty of other yellow flowers from home and abroad. I have yellow birds too, and a few other yellow creatures too.

Flowers

Tightly packed bright daffodils

Daffodils in a vase, Ealing, west London

Bright yellow flowers

Freesia in our garden, Ealing, west London

Orchids at the Finca Romelia in Colombia

Yellow flower with yellow and black striped insect

Dandelion and hoverfly, Norfolk, England

Three yellow flowers with dark splashes

Pansies in a street planter in Blloku, Tirana

Cluster of pale yellow flowers

The paler yellows of primroses in a local churchyard, Ealing, west London

Birds

Yellow bird with black head perched on a branch

Great Tit, Malham Cove, Yorkshire, England

Yellow and grey bird on a wire

Flycatcher at Drake Bay, Costa Rica

Yellow bird with black and white head

Great Kiskadee by the pool at Lagarta Lodge, Costa Rica

Bright yellow bird on a wire

Saffron Finch at a coffee farm in Colombia

I know he’s made an even more recent appearance than the orchids above, but he was too appropriate and so cheerfully yellow not to include here!

Brown bird with yellow breast and long tail on bare branches

Pigmy Sunbird (I think) at Souimanga Lodge, Senegal

Black bird with yellow throat and large bill in a tree

Yellow Throated Toucan in Costa Rica

Other creatures

Small frog with yellow spots

Brazilian Poison Frog, Jersey Zoo

Black and yellow butterfly

Swallowtail butterfly, Selvatura, Costa Rica

Fluffy bee on cluster of white flowers

Bee on white buddleia, Norfolk, England

Head of a yellow scaly lizard

Land Iguana on South Plaza, Galápagos Islands

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