What is this a photo of? Most of you guessed some sort of leaf, and you are right. It is a close up of a Ginkgo biloba leaf with light shining through it.
Except, strictly speaking, it isn't a leaf at all; Ginkgo trees don't have leaves. Their 'leaves' are actually stems that are flattened, increasing the surface area available for photosynthesis. They therefore have a similar function as leaves do on other plants, but are a bit different structurally.
Gingko biloba is the only extant (living) species in its phylum, Ginkgophyta. To help put this into perspective, there are 630 extant species in the phylum Coniferophyta (conifers) and between 250,000 and 400,000 species in the phylum Magnoliophyta (flowering plants). For a little bit more perspective, the phylum to which we belong, Chordata (vertebrates + a few almost vertebrates), has over 100,000 species.
Game 2:
Find the bird. It was a bit harder to tell who got this one right, as its hard to know if the thing you are looking at is the same bit I am looking at. Someone even thought they found two birds! Maybe I missed one. So below is the picture with the bird circled, you can check for yourself if its the one you found. :)
The trick, which at least one person figured out, is to click on the photo to view the photo full size. Then if you look carefully, there is the eye of a waxeye looking at you.
Waxeyes (Zosterops lateralis) or silvereyes as they are also known, are a small bird that self introduced from Australia, with the first birds recorded in NZ in 1832. They have since spread throughout the country and are quite common. They feed on insects, fruit and nectar. I have previously seen them feeding on apples and grapes, and in the garden at my new place in town I've watched them eating figs and Coprosma berries.
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