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Of Hair Ice and Woodpecker Holes · Street Smart Naturalist

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Greetings all.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is David B.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Williams and the podcast of my newsletter,
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: The Street Smart Naturalist,
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Every week I share my observations and adventures with the human and natural world
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: around Seattle,
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode dives into the curious phenomenon of hair ice.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about my work, please go to my website,
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: geologywriter.com.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: You will also find a link to my Substack newsletter and my previous three years of newsletters,
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: as well as pictures of hair eyes.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: They are pretty darn amazing.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for joining me on this adventure,
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: and welcome to Podcast 3 of the Street Smart Naturalist of Hair Ice and Woodpecker Holes,
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: December 12,
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: 2024.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: One of my joys of discovery is heading down an absorbing path of seeking out more information.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: This includes newspapers and scientific journals,
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: reaching out to friends and colleagues,
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: and delving into the books waiting to be probed on my bookshelf.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: No matter where these paths lead me,
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I feel I am rewarded by the knowledge I gain and the connections I make.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: I have had this happen many times in my writing life, including an encounter on a very cold winter day.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: My wife and I were walking with a pal of ours at Tolt River John MacDonald Park.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: The air was brisk, the ground frosty, and the decaying tree limbs erupting in beauty.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: In particular, we were attracted by a curious phenomenon none of us had ever seen.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Sprouting out of the downed wood were what looked like tufts of fine hair,
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: brilliantly white and curled like Albert Einstein's mane,
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: but better kept.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Known appropriately as hair ice,
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: this fragile and ephemeral feature owes its origin to a winter active white root fungus.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: known as Exidiopsis effusa, it does something very few organisms can accomplish.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: The fungus has the capacity to decompose lignin,
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: the complex organic polymer that gives wood its strength.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: In his thoughtful book,
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Entangled Life,
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Merlin Sheldrake writes that the decomposition is accomplished by,
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: quote,
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: highly reactive molecules known as free radicals,
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: which crack open lignin via enzymatic combustion,
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: unquote.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I suspect it's probably less dangerous than it sounds.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: But back to what E. effusa does in the Pacific Northwest.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: The fungus helps create the tufts of hair ice via a process called ice segregation.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: After the initial formation of ice nuclei in the limb, new ice extracts additional water from the wood.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: This eventually leads to more ice growth that extrudes out through holes in the limb surface.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: If the fungus is not present, the ice turns crusty.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: If the fungus is present,
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: it provides decomposed lignin and tannin,
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: which act as a combination curler and hairspray,
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: shaping and setting the fine strands of ice growing out of the wood.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: They are so fine that they are between 2.5 and 6.5 times narrower than a human hair.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Some can grow up to 8 inches long or about the size of an average banana.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Sadly, I have yet to encounter such cascading locks of hair ice.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: All of the hair ice I have seen has been less than 2 inches long.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Part of what makes science so splendid to me is that the first person to propose
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: the fungus and hair ice connection was one of my heroes,
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Alfred Wegner.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: A meteorologist,
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: explorer,
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: and hot air balloon experimenter,
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Wegner is best known for his theory of continental drift.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like his theory on hair ice,
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: decades would pass before scientists proved he was correct about how the Earth's
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: land masses once formed a single great continent.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Ongoing research has found that hair ice growth requires rotten hardwoods,
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: including two of our resident species,
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: red alder and big leaf maple.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: The humidity should be high, such as after snow melt or heavy rain.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: The temperature should be just below freezing and the wind should not blow.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Curiously,
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: climate change may lead to more hair ice in temperate latitudes,
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: such as the Pacific Northwest,
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: because there will be more snow-free periods.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: If the temperature subsequently does drop below freezing, hair ice can form.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you touch the gossamer strand, you'll find that hair ice has a curious density of texture.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is most likely the product of the decomposed lignin,
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: as if its structural strength has been transferred from the wood to ice,
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: as if all were part of one amazing interwoven community.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Despite this tenacity,
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: hair ice will melt quickly if held too long and tends to last for only a few hours
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: to days.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Fortunately, hair ice can grow
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Regrow year after year on the same branch as long as E.A.F.U.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: is present.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a gift that keeps on giving.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've been fortunate to encounter hair ice many times over the past few years.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: I usually stop to marvel over the shimmering evanescence and to rejoice in the
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: amazing surprises of the natural world.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: As usual, I'm glad I followed that path of research to better understand this beautiful winter feature.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: On one of the recent times I saw hair ice in the past week,
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: I was also excited to locate a woodpecker in a tree.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: This may not sound cool or unusual, but it was.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: I was hiking with pals on the Poo Poo Point Trail at Tiger Mountain when we saw abundant,
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: fresh-looking wood bits and chips around the snag.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: I suspected that the wood was from the poundings of a pileated woodpecker.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: After looking for and not finding a hole, we continued on our way.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: When we walked back an hour or two later, the light had changed.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: I noticed a couple-inch hole about 30 feet up the snag.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: As I gawked, I heard a sound from within the dead tree.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Clearly someone was pecking away.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Being the busybody I am, I lightly tapped the base of the tree with my hiking pole.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: The sound stopped, and a hairy woodpecker flew out of the hole.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't mean to disturb the bird and felt bad that I'd driven away the industrious homemaker.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: A birding friend,
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: however,
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: told me later that woodpeckers are quite hardy and that I was sort of a meanie,
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: but the bird would return soon to continue feeding or broadening out the cavity for
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: winter roosting.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Such is life in the trees.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Once again,
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Williams,
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: author and voice of the Street Smart Naturalist Explorations of the Urban Kind,
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: a weekly newsletter and podcast focusing on the human and natural world around Seattle,
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about my books,
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: walks,
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: and talks,
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: and a link to sign up for my newsletter and podcast,
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: check out my website,
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: geologywriter.com.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: And don't forget to slow down, pay attention, and enjoy the world around you.