Rime

We've spent the bulk of the past week or so birding in the region. The past 3 days have been remarkably clear and cold with the mountains absolutely crystalline on both sides of the Sound. It is a bit of a rarity around here to encounter several such days in the winter. Normally we'll get one, maybe two days of such beauty around the new year but 3 together is a treasure. Therefore, we decided to take full advantage of such a gift and get out there!
We took a couple of day trips to favored birding areas where we were richly rewarded with ample sightings of Widgeons, Mallards, Scaups, Coots, Turnstones, Harlequins, Cinnamon Teals, Pintails, Dunlins, Sandpipers, Bald Eagles, Marsh Hawks, Red Tails, Roughlegged Hawks, Harriers, assorted Gulls, and even Stellar Sea Lions along Marrowstone Island.
Today's excursion was a relatively quick one to Spencer Island where we saw many of the above birds. Again it was clear and quite cold this morning and what struck me as I tried to forget just how numb my toes felt, was the rime on everything: grasses, leaves, water, trees, shrubs, etc. As we walked and the sun rose in the sky, we heard glass breaking! Actually, the thin sheets of ice, some suspended midway along blades of long grass and cat-o-nine tails, were cracking and melting and falling in the sun's rays. My attention, then, passed from looking at the birds to looking at the icy landscape and seeing just how beautiful it was.