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Frost Flowers and Ribbons

Post author By lelandferguson
Post date December 7, 2021

Frost “flowers” and “ribbons” form with the first hard frosts of the year. With cold temperatures, the moisture in the grass and weed stubble of our pastures expands causing cracks in the stems. Moisture seeps out of the cracks. Once exposed, the moisture freezes and these ice crystals are then pushed out by water coming behind and subsequently freezing. This continuing process of expansion and freezing causes small, delicate crystal structures that look like flowers or ribbons.

Casually walking trough the pasture, the little frost flowers and ribbons are not so eye-catching.

But, up close:

Note the hoar frost on the leaf in the upper right of this image. Hoar frost forms on the surface of leaves and other surfaces. This is quite different than the frost ribbons and flowers that extrude from stems.

This is the first year I’ve seen so many of these ribbons and flowers. Now that we’ve had frosts several days, I suspect the “bloom” is gone. I’ll be looking next year and hope to get more photos!

Links: Frost Flowers and Ribbons, https://www.weather.gov/lmk/frost_flowers

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Broad River, Columbia, SC

Post author By lelandferguson
Post date October 14, 2021

Within the Columbia metropolitan area, the Broad and Saluda Rivers come together to form the Congaree River. Not far from the site of this image, the Broad River flowing down from the mountains of North Carolina and the piedmont of both states meets the smaller, swifter Saluda River flowing from a more narrow wedge of mountains and piedmont in South Carolina. The two rivers come together at the so-called fall line and form the Congaree River. This fall line is the meeting place of the hard rock of the ancient North American continent and the layers of soft sediment that have eroded over millions of of years from the mountains and piedmont to form the coastal plain. The result of this meeting of rivers and fall line is an exposure of rocky riverbed that often turns into whitewater rapids. Then, as it flows over the edge of the ancient continent, the Congaree river slows down and spreads over the softer sedimentary rocks and soils of what has locally been called Congaree Swamp. However, it is more accurately referred to as a floodplain, and it is the location of Congaree National Park. The result of all this is that Columbia has both a rapidly flowing, often whitewater, river in the northern and central part of the city and a soaked bald cypress floodplain just below the city limits. Columbia is blessed with rivers.

Birds Uncategorized

Great Blue Heron

Post author By lelandferguson
Post date September 19, 2021

This is a photo image that embodies the vagaries of nature photography–a lot of things have to come together to capture an good image. When I shot this photo I was on an early morning bird walk with friends, and I had made a trip to the restroom at the northern end of Columbia’s Riverfront Park. On coming out of the building, I noticed this heron. Now, I see Great Blue Herons quite often, and as they are solitary and still hunters, they are rather easy to photograph. Should I take the photo or join my friends who are waiting for me? I decided one quick shot. Resting my elbows on the steel railing of the walkway, I snapped one, then several more shots, after which I quickly closed down my camera and was off to look for other birds, apologizing to my friends by saying I stopped to photograph a heron. Only on downloading the images did I realize that not only was I wise to carefully prop my elbows on the railing for a steadier shot, but also that the early light just happened to be perfect for the shot. I also noticed that this particular image looked rather like a Romance-era painting! In the studio, photographers can move the subject as well as the lighting, in the outdoors I keep walking and snapping pictures, and occasionally it all comes together.

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