Fungus

These are so tiny, the largest one is about 3/4".

Notice they are growing in a very moist environment of mostly decomposing leaves.

Hidden Birds!

Maybe this guy isn't so well hidden, but he was sure keeping an eye on me!

As always, just click on the photo for a better look.

The photo above has two really well hidden birds in it. Well, two birds, one is really well hidden. I'll give you a couple of hints, the well hidden one is bright blue, and he's mostly hidden behind the branch.

More Bird Nests

Birds build their nests out of anything that they find handy. This nest (above) is built mainly of twigs and mud, but look at the fishing line! The orange thing is an oak gall. This particular nest was built in an oak tree alongside a river where fishing is a popular sport, which explains the fishing line.

The nest above was too high in the tree for me to get a better picture, but I can tell that it was built from a lot of grass. It must have been a nice soft nest for the hatchlings to snuggle down in.

I've shown this nest before, but now that all of the leaves are gone, it's so much easier to see. You can see that it was constructed mainly of mud, with twigs and grass. It is really a pretty big nest. I'm hoping that the birds that lived in it last year will return this Spring, and I can see what type they are.

An aerie is built of twigs and sticks. It doesn't look particularly soft and cuddly, do you think?

These branches are infested with clusters of mistletoe, but the very top, left cluster, isn't mistletoe at all. It is the aerie that you saw in the previous picture!

This is a wonderful time of year to hunt for nests in the woods! With few or no leaves on the trees, just keep your eye out for a tangle of twigs in a Y, where a couple of branches come together.

Frost, Ice Crystals

Don't you think the ice crystals are especially beautiful? Click on the pictures to get an even better look at them.

The pictures above and below are more heavily frosted because they are dead leaves. The leaves that are on live plants have fewer ice crystals because they still have liquid in their veins. This keeps them warmer, and they don't freeze as readily as the dead leaves.

Hawk

This fellow has been hanging around my front yard for the last few days. His feet are bright yellow, and while he is perched there, he cheeps like an Easter chickie.

From the top of his head to the tip of his tail, he is about 18" to 20" tall. That's about as tall as a newborn human baby!

This is a view of the Hawk from the side. You can get a good look at the shape of his raptor beak from this photograph. For more information, click on the word Hawk!

After checking with Wikipedia, I feel safe identifying this fellow as a Sharp Spined Hawk.

Frost - Ice Crystals

It's very, very cold outside today! It's freezing, even! When it gets cold enough outside to freeze the water droplets in the air, we say that we have a "frost". This is a picture of the frozen grass on my front lawn.
Look at the individual ice crystals on these leaves! These are tiny leaves, about the size of your Mom's thumbnail. Click on the pictures to see a larger view.

This is not carpet! This is a close up of the ice crystals on the car's windshield! Did you know that this is the way ice looks up close? Click on the picture for a full screen view.

The next time that you have frost at your house, dress warmly and go outside to get a good look for yourself!

Do you notice that very near the house there is no ice or frost? Not always, but if it is a light frost, often times there will be ice all over the entire outdoors, but not next to the house! Do you know why that is? It's because the house is actually kind of warm, and the temperature of the ground next to it doesn't get all the way down to freezing!

Do an experiment! When there is a weather forecast for frost, before you go to bed, place a piece of newspaper out on your lawn, away from the house.

Put a rock on it to keep it from blowing away in case of a breeze.

When you get up in the morning, if it has frosted over night, dress warmly and go outside to see! There will likely be ice crystals on your lawn, on the rock and on the newspaper, but the lawn under the newspaper will probably have no ice crystals!

Can you tell me why there aren't ice crystals there? Tell me what you think!

For more information on frost and the weather, check out The Weather Channel Kids!