This trove of “jewels” is at the bottom of a mossy-banked stream. The small amount of dappled sunlight reaching the pebbles was being re-dappled and bubbled by the fast-moving waters. The water, itself, is dark, apparently due to the tannin being released from last fall’s sunken leaves.
Despite higher precipitation over the past few months, soil moisture and stream flows in western Maine have not improved as of March 22, according to today’s U.S. Drought Monitor. In fact, areas of drought and abnormal dryness there have expanded a bit over last week, according to the report.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on March 22, 2022.)