Awesome Nature

(Flashing lights) Photographer Nicolaus Wegner graciously shares his latest compilation of time-lapse videos of storms in the US. It has everything: massive clouds, rainbows, lightning and much more. The song is Everything by Everyone Moves Away.

The Oceanic Preservation Society – the team behind the anti-dolphin hunting film The Cove – infiltrated black markets that sell endangered animals and blasted infographics at the buildings of companies that harm animals. Airs on the Discovery Channel on 12/2/15.

(PG-13: Language) Salomon Freeski TV, six pro skiers, and photographer Reuben Krabbe traveled to an archipelago near the Arctic to take on an extreme first world problem: do a skiing photoshoot during a solar eclipse. The climax is at 26:19. Behind the scenes here.

Incredible footage of a giant orca splashing through the water, highlighted by a moment in which its mighty tail tosses a seal some 80 feet into the air. And before you cry “animal cruelty,” we’re guessing the seal was going to be his lunch anyhow.

If these were tiny spiders, we’d be totally creeped out, but there’s something oddly soothing about this video of Jeremias Maluw as he picks up a handful of teensy crustaceans and lets them crawl all over his hand.

YouTuber Jaimen Hudson’s drone footage captured a couple of whales swimming beside a lone paddle boarder off the coast of Esperance, Western Australia. The size of these animals never fail to amaze.

Julian Tryba edited the footage that he and his friend Mike Sutton took of the American Southwest into a mesmerizing layer-lapse, where parts of different time-lapse shots are merged into the same frame. The song is Kygo’s remix of M83’s Wait.

Photographer Janis Brod shares shots from his recent three-month trip across four neighboring Southeast Asian countries: Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam – giving us a glimpse into the diversities of quiet country life, bustling cities, and awe-inspiring natural surroundings.

If you’re creeped out by bugs, you might think twice, but trust us when we say that Oliver Mueller’s look at the insects of the New Forest of England is fascinating both from a scientific and cinematic perspective, and packed with simply amazing macro photography.

The BBC and SpongeBob SquarePants‘ Sheldon J. Plankton defend his namesake animals, reminding us that without them we would have much less air to breathe, food to eat and fuel to use.

While at Monterey Bay, California, Big Blue Live host Steve Backshall involuntarily waxed poetic when their crew’s helicopter spotted a blue whale in their vicinity. An appropriate reaction to the presence of an ancient giant.

Nature photographer Luke Taylor made this time-lapse video of last July’s second full moon from his hometown of Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia. He shot this about 3 miles away from the lighthouse in the video. Music by Jessica Roemischer.

Filmmaker Josh Brine and his wife recently went to the Scottish Highlands and fell in love with the place, so much so that he was moved to create this poetic tribute. You can license clips from the film here.

Discover some natural wonders of North America WeWannaGoTV’s series of short films, which take us into British Columbia, through the waters and badlands of Alberta, culminating with the eye-popping beauty of Alaska’s mountains.

It’s rare to see more than one or two sharks from the shoreline, but Peter Selsey withnessed this scene of about 50 smooth-hound sharks sticking their fins out of the water as they fed on crabs at the RSPB Medmerry Nature Reserve in England.

Two Audiovisual Media students from Stuttgart Media University spent two weeks in Iceland to make this 4K time lapse video, featuring the island nation’s stunning landscapes and some of its wildlife.

Photographer Jeff Boyce shot over 70,000 images to create this impressive time-lapse video of storms, stars and skies. No fancy hyperlapse, no quick cuts or zooms. Just a sharp and steady eye watching nature do its thing.

The WWF of Australia strapped a GoPro onto the back of a green turtle as it was tagged and released back into the wild. Follow along with the big guy on a first-turtle view of the Great Barrier Reef without getting your hair wet.

Timestorm Films had just finished shooting at a volcano in Chile when Calbuco erupted. They quickly set up all of their cameras and captured 4K and 8K time-lapses of Calbuco’s ash and smoke spreading in the sky.

The Smithsonian Channel shares this amazing slow-motion footage of violets, touch-me nots and squirting cucumbers (yep, that’s really a thing) as they procreate by exploding, which spreads their seeds all over the place.

A team of marine scientists funded by the NOAA used a robotic camera off the coast of Puerto Rico to capture incredible footage of just a few of the unusual undersea lifeforms dwelling up to 20,000ft. beneath the surface. More here.

Usually, woodpeckers tap away at trees to get some sap or bugs out of them, but it appears that this pileated ‘pecker spotted in New Brunswick, Canada has its sights set on chopping down and entire tree with its beak.

At first glance you’d think you’re just looking at the floor of the sea. But upon closer inspection, you’ll see an unusual ground-hugging fish that blends into its surroundings so well that you’d never know it was there until it moves.