National Geographic's Top 20 Photos for 2015

Nothing from me on this blog posting.   I cannot add to the beauty and wonder of these pictures. Please enjoy. 

Enjoy the beauty of our world.   Link: National Geographic top 20 photos of 2015

National Geographic rounds up its best photos for 2015.  Here are twenty of them.   1. Cracking the Surface, Lake  Baikal Like Photographer Alexey Trofimov, captured quite  an unusual picture of the ice, here. He writes that the 'ice on Lake  Baikal is a very interesting phenomenon.' 2. The Village,  Hungary Like This photograph was taken by Gabor Dvornik,  who lives half a mile from The Village, which is set on a natural reserve  in Szõdliget Hungary. While the air in this place is special every season,  it is especially rare to have a nice, mist day. 'It was utterly ghostly  and very moody out there' he writes. 3. When Penguins Attack,  Antarctica Like Captured with a GoPro on Antarctica's sea  ice. The photographer, Clinton Berry had studied the movements of the  penguins for weeks. The day that this shot was taken, there were over 60  penguins and Berry says that there was a bit of luck involved  too. 4. Against the Wind,  Canada Like In this shot, photographed by Domnic Roy, a  snowy owl appears to be fighting against the elements during extreme  weather conditions near Quebec City, Canada. 5. Something's Fishy, British  Colombia Coast, Canada Like Photographed by Ian McAllister using an  underwater housing, this shot captures an intimate portrait of a wolf  wading through the inter-tidal zone on the British Colombia coast in  Canada. The wolf took a break from eating herring roe to investigate the  photographer's half-submerged camera. -      6. Who's There? While taking this photo, Cezary Wyszynski  imagined this mouse thinking 'Who was knocking at my  door?' 7. Falls in Autumn, Plitivice Lakes  National Park, Croatia Like This is the country's oldest and largest  National Park, which boasts 16 terraced lakes, formed by natural  travertine dams that change color throughout the day. This photo was taken  by Vedrana Tafra. 8. Bioluminous Larak, Iran   This shot was taken along the shore of  Larak, Iran - an island in the Persian Gulf. 'The magical lights of the  Plankton enchanted me so that I snapped the shot,' Pooyan Shadpoor  says. 9. Mother of the Forest,  Madagascar The boabab trees on Madagascar are 800 years  old. They are home to snakes, bats, bush babies, bees and at times,  humans. The trees are an important source of water - once can store up to  4,000 liters of water in its trunk. This photo was taken by Marsel Van  OOsten. 10. Fox Found, Gran Paradiso  National Park, Italy Gran Paradiso National Park, was once a  royal hunting retreat. Here, a red fox lies in wait, camouflaged by the  autumn woods. This photo was captured by Stefano  Unterthiner. 11. Dancing with the Moon,  Iceland The vivid beams of light are a result of  collisions between charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere  and gaseous particles in Earth's atmosphere. This shot was captured by  Andrew George. 12. Winter White, Gran Paradiso  National Park, Italy Another great shot taken at Italy's Gran  Paradiso National Park by Stefano Unterthiner. Among the wildlife  inhabiting this pare are ibex, chamois, red foxes and ermines (pictured  here). 13. Big Baby,  Tonga This young humpback whale was captured in  the waters off Tonga. Karim Iliya writes that she 'could not help but wave  and smile at the newborn whale almost three times my length' Curiosity got  the better of it and emerging from under its mother's fin, it swam toward  me, approaching less than 30 centimeters (11  inches). 14. Bird Feeders,  China Abderazak Tissoukai was near Xingping in  China's Guanxi region when he took this shot - a cormorant fisherman at  sunset. 'Xingping is definitely one of the most beautiful places in China,  with its scenic karst landscapes, and it traditional and genuine people,'  he writes. 15. Kit Friendly,  Estonia This kit fox appears to be weighing the  presence of Kalmer Lehepuu's camera lens. He writes that 'on one beautiful  evening, the mother went to get food and left the kits on their own.'  Lehepuu then snuck closer to observe them. 16. Shining Through, Apostle  Islands, National Lakeshore, Wisconsin This shot, taken by Ernie Vater, captures  the setting sun shining the rough ice on the shore of a frozen Lake  Superior. Part of the beauty of this place is its silence. Vater writes  'you hear nothing except for the occasional creaking of the  ice'. 17. Yellow Jellies, Rock Islands of  Palau These golden jellyfish are harmless to  humans, they spend much of their time following the sun as it moves across  the sky. Sunlight for these jellyfish is essential. Captured by Ciemon  Frank Caballes. 18. All the Fish in the Sea, Cabo  Pulmo 'This is what our oceans should look like',  Jeff Hester, who captured this shot says. But Cabo Pulmo, a marine park  off Mexico's Baja California, hadn't always been this  way. 19. Imperial Blossoms,  Japan These weeping cherry tree blooms, were  captured on the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Kyoto, Japan. They  typically bloom in late March and early April. This photo was taken by  Yukio Miki. 20. Hull-o, Caribbean Island of  Bonaire This photo shows a diver gazing at Hilma  Hooker, a cargo ship purposely sunk off the Caribbean island of Bonaire -  a popular destination for scuba divers.