The Daily Croissant

From a gallery of about 200 entries, posted at Outdoors Weekly:

"The $15 Federal Duck Stamp is a vital tool for wetland conservation, with 98 cents of every dollar generated going to purchase or lease wetland habitat for the National Wildlife Refuge System. Since the stamp’s inception, sales have helped to acquire nearly six million acres of wildlife habitat at hundreds of refuges in nearly every state.  

 The Federal Duck Stamp art contest is the only art competition of its kind sponsored by the federal government. Since the first open contest was held in 1949, thousands of wildlife artists from throughout the nation have submitted art to the annual contest. While the winner receives no money from the federal government, the winning artist may benefit from the increased visibility and sale of prints and artwork."

by Tom Semadeni

"The photo above showing the effects of an intense wind storm during the passage of a very deep extratropical cyclone was taken at Red Rock Point Lighthouse in Killarney, Ontario. Red Rock Point marks the eastern entrance to Killarney, which is on the northern shore of Georgian Bay. Under a cloudless, late-October sky, winds were blasting out of the southwest, gusting to 54 mph (87 km/h), and spray from Georgian Bay was drenching the headland. The wind streams are clearly visible in the spray -- over the boulders. Note the white caps in the bay. Walking on the rocks in these strong winds was quite challenging. As the Sun was directly behind us when we snapped this picture, water droplets in the spray formed a delightful double rainbow."