I thought this was interesting algae that had grown on one of the beaver ponds at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Reserve (just east of Olympia). I like the bare branches of the alder and cottonwood in the background … a nice contrast. Sorry I don’t have a name for the Algae for those of you interested in such details.
These two images (taken within 20 miles of each other) show a dramatic difference in growing environments. The one above shows a stand of alders in marshy bottomland … I would expect their roots are constantly wet. The one below shows an evergreen growing in a rocky area that would certainly not provide any water during summer months. The adaptive ability of trees to grow wherever there is a chance to put down roots is amazing.
I have shown photos of this pond before, but the clouds are always different. This day they were particularly dramatic.
Alders are a lot more tolerant of wet ground around their root systems. The foreground is a very wet, marshy area that the alders can encroach on, but the firs and hemlocks can’t tolerate.
I don’t know what kind of reeds these are (hard to tell from the photo) but they sure made an interesting pattern floating on the small pond near the ‘entrance’ to Sol Duc Park. Sol Duc Park is about 7 miles up the Sol Duc Trail, most of the way to Heart Lake and part of the very popular High Divide Loop in the Olympic National Park.