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Ice seeps along Passage Creek

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This past week, there’s been a beautiful sight along the stretch of the Fort Valley Road that goes past the Blue Hole section of Passage Creek. Click to enlarge Ice has been forming beautiful forms as groundwater seeps out along bedding planes in the Massanutten Sandstone (a Silurian-aged quartz arenite, folded during late Paleozoic Alleghanian … Read more

Frosty morning

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It’s another cold morning in the Fort Valley. To celebrate winter’s continuing grip, please enjoy these images from last Friday morning, on my way to work… Frost on plants: Frost on barbed wire: Finally, here’s a time-lapse video (5 times actual speed) of the first 6 miles of my commute (walking, then driving): [vimeo=http://vimeo.com/85285064]

Ice in the ‘hood

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Some ice seen this morning, the coldest we’ve yet experienced at our home in the Fort Valley… 4° F when we got up this morning, with windchill around -15° F. Frost nucleated on a “petal” from a tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera): Frost on grass (note the different habit of the ice crystals here): Frost on … Read more

2013 Yard List

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Here’s our birding yard list (species seen in/from our yard) for the past year. You can compare it with 2012’s list here. Canada geese Goldfinch Tufted titmouse Dark-eyed junco Mourning dove Black-capped chickadee White-breasted nuthatch Downy woodpecker Hairy woodpecker Blue jay Brown creeper American crow Red-bellied woodpecker Pileated woodpecker Red-shouldered hawk Carolina wren Turkey vulture … Read more

Pipkrakes in the yard

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Asbestiform ice is growing in our yard this week, with individual ice needles several inches long… Note the substantial pebbles that have been lifted up by the growth of these things – they’re powerful little crystals.

Ichnology of a one-horse open sleigh

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On my morning walk earlier in the month, I encountered this trackway: Those are percheron (big breed of horse) hoof-prints, and the tracks of an authentic one-horse open sleigh, like the one invoked in “Jingle Bells!” Our neighbor, Don Warlick of Secret Passage Ranch, brings the sleigh out for neighborhood fun when conditions are right… … Read more

Monday macrobugs: mating stick insects

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Back in the fall, we saw a lot of sexy scenes among the stick insects on our land. Everywhere, it seemed, the smaller males were searching out larger females, and put gametes together to make the little zygotes that would grow into the next generation of these extraordinarily well-camouflaged insects… Here’s a pair on the … Read more

Birdprints

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A long time ago, I posted here an image of an “owlprint” – the pattern of duff left on a pane of window glass when a screech owl smacked into it. We’ve had a couple of new avian impacts lately out at Fort Bentley… Here’s a clear mourning dove imprint on the upper level window … Read more

Monday macrobug: Colonial spiders at the Fort Valley Library

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I volunteer on Wednesdays at the Fort Valley Public Library. We have some bushes out front, and in the past month, I’ve noticed something about the bush closest to the library door… It’s having some trouble, and the trouble seems to be coming from… (( brace yourself )) … a colony of spiders! You’re seeing … Read more