Photo of the Day for April 5, 2012

Spring Flood, Vuhaljets 2008.  Паводка, Вугалец (Столінскі раён) 2008 год.

The Pripet River (Прыпяць – “Prypjats'”) defines Polesia.  The Pripet flows from Ukraine eastward through southern Belarus, roughly along the 52nd parallel, and empties into the Dnjapro (Dnjepr).  Every spring as the snows and ice melt and the storks return, the Pripet overflows.  This timeless cycle of flooding brings invaluable nutrients to the marshes and to those fields not cut off by Soviet and post-Soviet “amelioration” dykes.  In the lower center-right of this photo a stork searches for frogs in a flooded field.