According to tradition, a kiss at the ringing in of the new year ensures affections for the coming year. From the internets, this is an ancient tradition adapted from the festival of Saturn. Methinks cause and effect are reversed in this instance, but who am I to argue with a Roman god.
2021-06-01 Barrett St Marsh, Northampton, MA [DSC08052]
white morph snow goose rooting through the muck for grasses and tubers. The Ross's goose also has black wing tips, but the snow goose has a black "grin" on its beak. Family groups of at least a dozen come down from the arctic to forage together in the wintering grounds, but this one was all alone. Lost? Social distancing rules?
2021-12-13 Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA [IMG_1433]
A pair of shovelers swimming about the marsh.
2021-12-23 Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA [IMG_9254]
A flock of cedar waxwings were at the swamp on Sunday. The bandit mask, the yellow tips on the tail (not visible here) and the red highlights make this an easy bird to identify. From Wikipedia[1], the red tips of the feathers are waxy deposits which match the colour of the berries that they eat (see details in the feather atlas[2]). The tail feather tips may be yellow or orange, again depending on diet.
2021-12-26 McKee-Beshers WMA, Poolesville, MD [IMG_9592]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_waxwing#Description
[2] https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/feather.php?Bird=CEDW_secondary_adult
A virginia rail hiding in the march grass. It was easy to find: just go to the clump of people hovering on the boardwalk waiting for it to pop out, then stand around for 10 or 20 minutes. When you get home edit the hell out of the photo until you get something impossible.
2021-12-23 Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA [IMG_1420]
Another tree cholla, this one showing more purple and yellow. The background is the canyon wall.
2021-12-13 Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, NM [DSC05182]
Looking rather Christmassy, this cardinal was snacking on some honeysuckle berries one morning in December.
2021-12-01 NIH pond, Bethesda, MD [DSC04616]
Lots of colour variation in dark-eyed juncos. This one has "Oregon" colouration. I don't know how they maintain so much variety with the different variants living in close proximity. Maybe they segregate when they fly back to their breeding grounds in the spring.
2021-12-13 Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, NM [DSC05031]
Still in Los Alamos, here is a teenaged white-crowned sparrow, without the red streaks on its chest that it had as a baby but not yet having black stripes on its head instead of brown. One of the few birds I saw that was not a dark-eyed junco or a raven.
2021-12-13 Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, NM [DSC05041]
In contrast to the geometric abstractionism of yesterday's piece, this bit of ice chose the earlier art nouveau for its styling. I like the caterpillar form reaching out from the shelf trying to break free. On the water below there is some skim ice forming, hinting at a more modern style.
2021-12-13 Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, NM [DSC05189]
It was cold enough in Los Alamos for there to be ice forming on the creek (elev. about 2000 m). These crystals are long (several centimeters) and needle-like. This sounds like P2 ice from [1] but the conditions are wrong: this ice formed on the edge of a fast flowing creek.
[1] Michel, B. and Ramseier, R.O., 1971. Classification of river and lake ice. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 8(1), pp.36-45. doi:10.1139/t71-004
P2 Calm Surface, Large Temperature Gradient
The grain size is varied, ranging from medium to extra large. The crystallization progresses rapidly. The grain shape varies from tabular to needle-like and can be several cm in length. Dendrites are also common. The crystallographic orientation is random or vertically preferred superimposed on a random orientation. This type of ice is found in lakes, reservoirs, and very calm areas of rivers.
2021-12-13 Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, NM [DSC05200]
It's pretty dry in New Mexico, with lots of cactus and sage. The tree cholla (Cylindropuntia imbricata) provides a bit of color with its yellow fruit.
2021-12-13 Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, NM [DSC05171]
A dark-eyed junco from New Mexico. There were dozens of them flitting between the branches. This one was particularly bold, sitting on a rock in front of me. I love all the colourful lichen.
2021-12-13 Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, NM [DSC051040]