Thawing

A quick post with a lot of photos:

The weather finally broke a little today, and the temperatures climbed well above freezing.  The thaw was noticeable, and the 45 F degrees of warmth brought an adventurous few out to Solomons Island.

But let's go back to the beginning.  The rain and warm air brought some vapor to the air, and a marvelous reflection to the ice on the creeks.  It looked like a frosted mirror.


 The ice in the river is starting to break up and brought a really interesting look to a very familiar place.

The circular formation around the pier's pilings was quite intriguing.

Water dripping off the roof line sliced the icy-snow on the steps.







 The sun was trying to escape the cloud cover, but never found the key to unlock the cage.  The best it managed was to shine from behind the veil.  It was striking none the less.

Did you know the Ring Billed Gulls like to photo-bomb your photography?  I didn't even realize they were there.

 The persistent thaw battled against the ice.  If you look close you can see the fingers of the ice (in the center of the pic) holding on for dear life.  It's going to lose the war.  Spring is too near.

As a sign of things to come, the Uni-cyclists were out for a ...ride (?) .. stroll (?)   Exactly, what do you call motion on a unicycle?  No matter what you call it, it looks like fun.

"Well, I'm sorry Winter. You were a blast of fresh (cold) air, but Spring is melting my heart, and I have to go with the flow"

 In the end, sometimes you just need to walk.

 A few more hearty souls.






And below, the steady drip, drip, drip of the melt.

Some Ruddy Duck hens

 It was a beautiful day. Cloudy and mysterious this morning, and brighter this afternoon.  Ducks were paddling right in the causeway that truly defines the beginning of the Island.

To top it all off, a wonderful sunset.

Till next time,

Brian

Snowy Solomons

The shoveling of our long driveway (the benefit of a "flag lot"?) was done, and the roads were begging for more drivers so I complied.  The destination - my favorite local spot of Solomons Island.

The Patuxent River had a good amount of ice today, particularly north of the Thomas Johnson Bridge.  I suspect a lot of this was 'calving' from the frozen creeks - no we don't have icebergs but the reference seemed fitting for the cold weather we've been having around here.  Coming across the bridge and aiming blindly since I was driving after all, I snapped a few shots hoping to capture the Oyster Boat working the water.

 You may have a tough job, but these guys are definitely HEARTY!  It was around 22F with just a little breeze.  I'm not sure of the exact water temperature, but there is ice in it!  The boat had two dredgers - one on each side.  The load is hauled up and dumped on the sorting table, then the dredger is dropped right back in the river.  While it's down, the waterman sorts and picks out the oysters and tosses back the unwanted pieces.  This happens pretty quickly and really interesting to watch.  I can't imagine how wet and cold this must be!  I managed to see "Julie" returning to her slip - somewhere in the Back Creek.  She was cutting through the light ice- amazing.

Solomons Island was quite vacant, with only a few people around.  The parking lot was plowed - though the spaces were not full length due to the way the snow was pushed.  In fairness, there isn't much room for the crews to put the snow.  The amazing thing to me was that the Riverwalk was clear! The Gazebo was as well!









Just on the south side of "The Pier" were quite a few ducks, right along the Riverwalk.





I think I came across a flock of Rudy Duck,most
of which were resting. 

 The little guy on the ice is hanging out with the Mallards.


Close up below; still have not yet identified this one.

I like how his legs point forward

Sometimes you just have to create waves!

 It was quite the party going on.  The Rudy's in the water resting, the Mallards were closer to the shore, and a few Coots were mixed in as well.


















I'll throw in one 'abstract' piece below



















 A Mallard hen stretching out on the ice, preening a bit.



The drake below was trying to each something, but kept putting it back in the water.  I can't really make out what it is.

I left the ducks and moved to Back Creek behind Lady of the Sea Star Catholic Church.  There had to be 100 Robins in the area.


 It really was amazing to see them all.  Many were drinking from the small puddles in the parking lot, or at the base of the snow piles (which you can just make out in the background.)

 Then, what may have been the best part of the day; I spied a hawk.  I was in my truck watching the Robins and then looked up to see this guy perched high in the tree.

Red Tailed Hawk - I believe.

 I was thinking about the Hawk and how you never know who may be watching you.  The idea was not lost on me as I turned to see the nearby cross near the entry to the church.



Two more shots before calling it quits tonight.

The first is a catamaran that is enduring the winter, but is suffering from the recent wind storm.







The last shot, below is Solomons UMC, where Deb and I attend.  I'm still trying to get a good photo of the church.  It's a bit of a challenge - it sits close to the road and has power lines in front.  If you shoot from the Riverwalk you have to Photoshop out the power lines.  Trying a really wide angle shot from the sidewalk and most of the building is very distorted from the angles.  This time I parked in front of the church and stood on the tonneau cover of my truck.


Till next time,
Brian

ICED

There were only a very few hearty souls on the Riverwalk today, and one crazy guy (me.) with a camera.  Twenty degrees F with 20 MPH winds made for one seriously chilly afternoon.  The only critters to be found this day were the Ring Billed Gulls, and most of them were staging a sit-in.  The few that were gathered for the most part were plopped down square in the middle of the walkway.  Not perched on the pilings, nor atop light poles, they hunkered down in an attempt to stay out of the fiercest winds.

The winds were worse this morning, and I didn't have my camera with me at the time.  I'm glad in a way, as I only lasted about 30 minutes this afternoon, and this morning it was 11F with gusts to 30 MPH winds.

The ice shapes on the pilings are really interesting.  My guess is that at the high tide the wider ring of ice developed just above and at the tide line.  The the spray and waves caused the rest above.  As the tide fell it left the water dripping and formed the icicles below.  That's my guess and I'm sticking to it.


 This guy was looking for a meal.  He wandered over to a SUV that had just pulled in.  No food was delivered, so it was time to take a rest.

Now to the north there were the others doing their 'sit-in.'  While I'm pretty sure they were complaining about the housing and lack of food, there was time for preening.  I'm fairly sure this must have been the Queen I saw last week. No one else was trying to look good.  Nope.  The others were tucked in as best they could be.













 So you can see the Queen at work....




and notice the loyal subject below...



He's head down, tucked-in, and thoughtfully not looking back at the Queen.
















Here's a better look at the serf...































And once again...  the Queen has an addiction problem..  very narcissistic!

"Strike a pose!"....  "How's this?"

Doesn't it look like someone just yanked him off the ground?

 Photo-bombed by a gull!





I got his photo to turn him in

 And the last shot was of the ice on the rocks below the Riverwalk.

I was plenty warm with lots of layers on.  The one exception was my fingers, they were shot by the end of the 30 minutes..  I guess that's the next weak link to work on..  some new gloves or mittens.

Till next time,

Blessings,
Brian