A Shaggy Ice Story

Lately, I've been looking everywhere for earth tongues. They are strange, black mushrooms that are indeed shaped like long, narrow tongues or perhaps spoons. They are out there; I've seen them reported once in a while on iNaturalist or the Pacific Northwest mushroom forum on Facebook. But I've had no luck so far. Believe me, when I find them, you will see them right here. In the meantime, every hike, every walk, feels a bit like a treasure hunt. In fact, all nature noticing for me is in the spirit of a treasure hunt.

Sometimes, however, when you go looking for that one weird thing, you actually find it. Today, we were hoping to see hair ice on our Squak Mountain hike. Not only did we find it, we struck the mother lode!

hair ice
It was 28 degrees when we started out, and the fog had burned off to blue skies and sunshine. Apparently it was the perfect combination of temperature and humidity, because the hair ice was everywhere - it seemed like every few steps we spotted more. Hair ice is indeed ice, it melts with a breath, and it is indeed made of hair-like filaments. In the picture below, notice the finger tip for scale. My sweet husband observed that the hairs are finer than the ridges on his fingerprints.
hair ice close up
It's so fluffy!

Hair ice grows out of dead wood, often all along the length of fallen twigs where the wood is exposed or the bark is cracked (it doesn't grow out of bark). It looks like candy floss. I wanted to eat it. However, we've looked at water from melted hair ice under the microscope, and we found little springtails called snow fleas in it, so maybe not!

hair ice
Caution: may contain snow fleas

Today, we also saw it growing out of the trunks of snags, and in pompom like structures that spanned multiple twigs.

hair ice
I want one on my hat.

Hair ice only grows when a particular white crust fungus, Exidiopsis effusa, is present in the dead wood. One of my favorite heroes of science, Alfred Wegener (yay continental drift!), was first to notice that hair ice always grows in the presence of a fungus. The fungus produces an antifreeze that somehow acts to stabilize the ice crystal formation, resulting in the growth of very fine hairs. But why? I haven't read anywhere the the hair ice is helpful to the fungus in any way. A beautiful accident?

At any rate, a very satisfying quarry for a nature treasure hunt.

Location: GX23+F5 Issaquah, WA, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sea Glass and Ocean Burps

Image
According to Ross Gay, "It's a version of pointing, writing is. Pointing and thinking, to be more precise. Preciser still: wondering!" (quoted from an interview with Austin Kleon ). I love the idea of  pointing and wondering at things, and sharing that in writing. This winter there has been much to point and wonder at on the beach, whether it's  low tide creatures , washed-up creepy bones , or a mysterious salp . I've also found lots of wonder-inspiring, human-made detritus while beachcombing. My holy grail would be finding a Japanese fishing float but I've only found those in antique shops. But there have still been plenty of interesting, if more modest, human-made things to point and wonder about.  For example, sea glass is irresistible, especially the bits that are identifiable as parts of bottles. There's something about that sand-blasted patina that makes pieces of sea glass both beautiful to look at and so satisfying to touch. Beach glass from Discov...
Read more

The Pull of the New Moon: More Tide Pooling in Seattle

Image
 As I write this, the moon is almost new again, and we are again due to have some of the lowest tides of the summer. This month, my schedule prevents me from getting my feet wet, but I have gotten out for the last several low tides at Constellation Park, Golden Gardens Park, and Fauntleroy Ferry dock, all in Seattle. I have seen wonderful things, and also some rather horrible things. Let's start with something small and horrible. Skeleton shrimp (family  Caprellidae ) are not really shrimp, they are members of a group called amphipods. Skeleton shrimp While fearsome in appearance, they are very small; the ones I've seen are less than an inch. Their terrifying appendages are largely used just to cling to seaweed so they don't drift away. The males of some species use their burly front limbs in fights over mates. Some even have poison glands in their front limbs - but they are not dangerous to humans.  Also fearsome but quite small is the gaper (or horse) clam ( Tresus capa...
Read more

Concrete Spelunking

Image
One of the joys of noticing (and delighting in) the weird and obscure in nature is that sense of validation and camaraderie when someone else notices (and delights in) the same thing.  I love exploring the old forts that bracket Puget Sound, particularly Forts Ebey, Worden, and Flagler. They date from the late 1800's, so are hardly ancient, but exploring them helps sate my longing for distant European castles.  Several years ago at Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island, I noticed stalactites growing from the concrete ceiling in one of the batteries. I was delighted, and recorded them in my nature journal. Calthemites at Fort Flagler, Marrowstone Island Recently, I read  David B. Williams new book, Wild in Seattle . I felt that spark of validation and camaraderie when I saw that he had a chapter about concrete "cave" formations. " I've seen those!" I thought to myself, "I love those!"  Now I know that they have a name. The concrete "cave" fo...
Read more