A Frosty Morn

My friend Mike recently cut back to working half-time, so we’ve started walking together. The first time we walked he introduced me to a new area near Auburn. The second time I thought I would take him to Theler wetlands in Belfair.

I’m pretty sure if we hadn’t planned ahead I would’ve stayed home because it was quite cold. As it turns out, I would’ve missed a great trip if I hadn’t gone.

The heavy fog had coated the plants in hoarfrost, transforming their ordinary beauty into extraordinary beauty.

rimed blackberry leaves

Mike thought that term wasn’t appropriate to describe the beauty we were seeing, so by the time I took this picture of a fern coated with ice crystals we had decided that the older term “rime” was much more appropriate.

Rime coated fern

I doubt that this great blue Heron considered the frost on its feathers as deserving of that term.

Great Blue Heron with Frosted Feathers

I know if I’d spent the night out in that cold and ice had formed on my coat, “hoarfrost” would have been the nicest words I would have had in mind.

Although the birding wasn’t great, as usual with fog we got closer to many birds than you normally could. Without the fog, this Towhee would have hopped into the underbrush long before I could get this close:

Spotted Towhee

The downside is that the fog’s gray cast makes it hard to appreciate its brilliant colors.

2 thoughts on “A Frosty Morn”

  1. OMG! The heron picture is so amazing! That guy must have been standing there quite awhile. You really need to publish that one somewhere or enter it into a contest or something! At least print it and we’ll frame it and hang it.

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