Regarding the question about the previous Grouse Pic, the frosted phlox:

Yeah, they grow close to the ground. Two or three centimeters above it, maximum.

And I've got lots of pictures of frosted phloxes (phloxi?), so I guess it's not that hard to pick out a good one or two. The hard part is getting the shots to begin with.

Now, if you went out with the goal of getting pictures of phlox flowers covered in frost, that wouldn't be too hard a goal to achieve. The plants are among the first to bloom in the desert, and you can probably find good blossoms for the latter half of April well into May. And we usually have lots of mornings during that period with frost.

All you gotta do is get down on your knees and look.

'Course, if you're actually out there counting grouse, then it's a different story. Because even on those frosty mornings, the first rays of sunlight are usually warm enough to melt those tiny crystals of water. The air temperatures can jump from below 20 degrees to above 35 in just a half hour or so. A half hour that I am usually spending in a mad dash down roads in the sage to count just one more strutting ground.

Plenty of days during strutting season where I have the heat and defrost on during the drive out into country, and the air conditioning on during the drive home.

So, what I often end up doing, when the heeler sisters are finally getting a break after the lek counting is done, is wandering around the truck. Looking for phlox flowers growing close to sagebrush.

On the shady side. Out of the sun, still frozen.

And sometimes it's touchy. I've had the ice crystals melt away from my breath as I bent close to find a shot.

And sometimes, well, sometimes you're just too late.

Which can be okay, too.