By focusing on fractals, it is not my intention to ignore other important math-in-nature connections like the remarkable Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Ratio. It is rather that I have nothing enlightening to add to those conversations. There are many Fibonacci/Fractal connections. There are Fibonacci fractal trees, and Fibonacci fractal songs, intersections are abundant. Here is one of many connections to explore: Anna Rodenhausen has published a paper available in pdf about Fibonacci Sequences Arising from Paperfolding.

Symmetry is another vast topic that is left untouched on my pages, except for a web-based presentation developed in Fall 2005 for use in classrooms: Fractals: an Introduction through Symmetry. Fractals operate under a symmetry of magnification. I plan to focus more energy on highlighting intersections between fractals and different areas of mathematics in future projects.

Richard Voss took the fascinating photograph of a heron shown above at The Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach, Florida. It is placed here with his permission. In a second photograph he took that is not shown here, it looks very much like a great blue, it definitely has grey-blue feathers, and great blue herons have been seen there. Anyone interested in figuring out what kind of heron it is can visit the Birds of Wakodahatchee page, where there are pictures and links to bird calls. Their Contributed Photo Galleries are also beautiful. Gloria Hopkins' gallery has especially stunning images of birds, and Mark Eidemiller's gallery shows two images of an alligator carrying five babies on her snout and head. It looks like they are covered in duckweed.