While we were watching the eagle, a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) landed gracefully  just across the river from us and struck this elegant pose.

This close-up showcases its beautiful feathers.

Herons are common year-round Kentucky residents and I always enjoy seeing them, either flying overhead or feeding near the edge of water.

Folks with fish ponds are less happy to see herons, since fish are their favorite food. A couple of years ago one landed in our backyard, and we recently saw one on top of a neighbor’s roof. Now we’re wondering. We haven’t seen our goldfish recently. Are they hidden under the rocks for the winter or did the heron dine? Time will tell.

Greater Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis tabida) spend the winter in Florida, Tennessee and Georgia. Some of them stop in Kentucky each January and February as they head north to their breeding grounds in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada, and Alaska. Park officials estimated the current population at 4,600 birds.

We started the sunrise tour at 6 a.m. and drove near mud flats where the cranes roost. At first we could only hear their distinctive calls. With daylight began to see flock after flock leave the roost to feed. During the day we traveled backroads to see many birds in nearby fields.

The cranes are extremely wary and quick to take flight, so it wasn’t easy to get close to them. I captured all of these photos with a 100-400 mm camera lens that I rented from Murphy’s Camera.

It was a special treat to see them jump and “dance.” Were they practicing for courtship or possibly jumping for joy?

Finding cranes on our own would have been tricky and we are glad we did the tour. Park officials know the habits of the cranes and where to find them. If you are interested, there is another Sandhill Crane Weekend February 17-18, when the bird population is expected to reach about 12,000. Preregistration is required.

It was a fun weekend and I’m grateful to have seen and heard these awesome birds relatively close to home.

This Leather Wood Fern (Dryopteris marginalis) also seems to be doing fine.

The Golden Ragwort (Senecio aureus) is one of my favorite ground covers. I look forward to its early spring blossoms. However, right now I’m enjoying the green it adds to the winter garden.

In addition to taking winter in stride, these plants do quite well in dry, shady areas in summer. I admire their toughness.

I was inspired to grab my small camera and quickly captured six images. Then I came inside, raised my coffee cup, and drank a toast to the beautiful sky and new day.

How about this Grapevine Beetle (Pelidnota punctata)? I was surprised and delighted to know we had such a striking creature in our backyard.

I’ve seen several different skippers in the backyard. They are often referred to as LBBs (little brown butterflies) and are a challenge to identify. However, I plan to give it a try. I believe this one is a Pecks Skipper (Polites peckius).

The Green Lacewing (Chrysopidae family) is perhaps my very favorite insect. It’s a voracious predator of aphids and beneficial in any garden. I also think it quite beautiful.

Thanks to our native plants we have a wide variety of insects. The insects pollinate the plants, provide food for our birds, and give me considerable enjoyment. I like this quote by Edward O. Wilson. “Insects are the little things that run the world.” One of my goals for 2012 is to photograph and identify more of these interesting critters.

I was in the backyard, camera in hand, looking for butterflies on the zinnias, when the hummingbird appeared. I felt lucky to capture this image before it whisked away.

Was it feeding on nectar or was it looking for insects for its young? I don’t know, but I like this haiku by my friend Beth.

Hummingbird’s Bar

An open-faced bowl,

Zinnia quenches the thirst

of beauty in flight.

by Beth Bailey

Here’s to special memories of the past and the possibilities of the future. What were your favorite garden experiences in 2011?

The closer I look, the more magical it seems. I encourage you to click the image for a closer view.

Wishing you a holiday season and new year filled with the wonders of nature.

For example, this Virginia Sweetspire leaf (Itea virginica) reminds me of a miniature work of art.

And I was pleasantly surprised that the Highbush Blueberry leaves (Vaccinium corymbosum) were still a beautiful holiday red in December.

These frosted Red Chokeberry fruits (Aronia arbutifolia) look good enough to eat but are actually quite tart. Birds will eat them but only after other berries are gone, which means I can enjoy seeing them in the garden for some time.

The heavy frost had transformed the garden and I was glad that, in spite of the cold, I had gone out to see it. My winter goal is to get out in the backyard daily – even for five minutes!

What sort of winter beauty are you enjoying?

This is a follow-up to last week’s post about these amazing ice crystals. We’ve now had six days with low temperatures below freezing, and each morning there have been more frost flowers on the two Dittany plants (Cunila origanoides).

Each “flower” has been quite different and I’ve had great fun photographing them from different angles and in different light. However, once the sun reaches them they soon begin to melt.

I’m amazed to know the roots had enough moisture to create these ice crystals for six days. On day five they were smaller, and I thought perhaps the show was over. However, on day six, after a low of 25 degrees, there were two new creations, including this one.

Some local  folks who live in the country are frequently seeing frost flowers. I get the idea that most of those ice crystals are on the larger plants mentioned in last week’s post rather than Dittany, however I’m not sure.

I appreciate the response to last week’s post. Among other things, I’ve learned that Dittany is a medicinal and culinary herb. If you’re interested in planting it, two possible sources are Shooting Star Nursery (in Kentucky) and Missouri Wildflowers Nursery.

Frost “flowers” are really ice crystals which occur only on certain plants and under special conditions when the air temperature is below freezing and the ground is not frozen.

Cold temperatures cause moisture in the plants’ thick roots to expand and push up through the stem. As the water reaches the cold air, it freezes into fantastic, beautiful, fragile shapes. Read more on Wikipedia.

Frost flowers occur on very specific plants, including White Crownbeard (Verbesina virginica) also called Frostweed, Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) and Yellow Ironweed (Actinomeris alternifolia). These are weedy plants that often grow in open fields and can grow 8-10 ft. tall, and are not what I want in our backyard.

Frost flowers also occur on Dittany (Cunila origanoides). This is a delicate-looking plant, 12-16″ tall, with small lavender flowers in September or October. It prefers sun or medium shade and dry-to-average soil. According to the plant label, it does not spread and is long-lived, and it works well in a garden.

One must get out early to see these exquisite ice crystals. Even in the shade they usually disappear by 9 or 10 a.m. Our daughter calls them fairies’ ice sculptures. I see them as one more example of nature’s mysterious and beautiful works of art.

If you want to know more, Kentuckian Chris Korrow has created an informative and artful frost flower DVD that has been shown on Kentucky Education Television and is available on his website.

The frost flowers in these photographs were on two Dittany plants in our backyard. I planted them in hopes of having frost flowers close at hand and am glad I did. I’ll be watching them closely on frosty mornings, and I’ll be planting more Dittany in the backyard next spring.

I’ve read that only one person in a thousand has ever seen frost flowers or even knows they exist. I think they are amazing and wish more folks knew about them. Please share this post with anyone you think might be interested. Note the new links at the top of each post to share on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Have you seen frost flowers? If so, where and when?