I have yet to read an explanation of just exactly how these ice pendants are formed. It would seem that the water somehow rises from that moving below, either by splashing or humidity over the brook starting at the branch and then building from below thus creating an upside down icicle. Searches just describe how icicles form from eaves. I’ll keep searching.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
They are beautiful.
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Thank you, Lakshmi!
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Nice shot, Steve.
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Thank you, Ken!
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Following your lead, I searched a little but didn’t turn up anything relevant. I did find an article titled “How do icicles form and why shouldn’t you eat them?” The answer, at least for icicles hanging from gutters, is that water coming down a roof picks up unclean particles of matter that are on the roof.
Like you, I assume that water vapor rising from below and splashes from below freeze upon contact with the lowest part a nascent icicle coming down from above.
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I spent several years of my childhood in Syracuse where the winters were quite severe. Many houses had icicles that went all the way from the roof to the ground. We pretty much don’t see them as large now that most house have insulation in the attics. We did lick and suck on them and lived to tell the tale. I am sure there was all sorts of bad stuff in building materials back then but we survived somehow.
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I’d be more inclined to suspect a combination of temperature changes and gravity for your pendant-like icicles, since they don’t seem upside down at all — at least, to me. The first photo looks remarkably like sap that oozes slowly and collects as a ‘bulb’ at the bottom of the slow-moving seep.
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It certainly looks as if that could be what’s happened here, with a drop of water travelling down the icicle and sitting at the bottom long enough to get frozen into the ‘bulb’.
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That could be.
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The upside down appearance to me is based on most icicles I see being larger at the top and tapering to thinness at the bottoms. But in this case gravity might play a part as it does seem to do that with my body which is now a bit larger at the bottom than it used to be.
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Living in the land of ice and snow, I have observed similar cases of pendulosity. If you solved the mystery, let us know, Steve.
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I’ll keep looking, Peter.
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Cool find! 🙂
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Thanks, Eliza! I see similar icicles often enough but having that lineup below was something a little different.
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Love the ‘ice-fern’ at the bottom. 🙂
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Me too, Ann. Thanks!
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Here’s an article that might help. As a pilot I’ve done some reading about them, but nothing in-depth. I like how they look but I don’t want them (or any ice) on my plane. Cheers.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/science/the-mysterious-and-cool-science-of-icicles/article23241318/
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Thanks for that, Lynette. It’s interesting to learn more about icicle formation (I did not know they were hollow at the tip for instance) but it seems his research just shows the traditional icicle formation, fatter at the top and skinny or pointed at the bottom. Maybe what has been suggested, the drippings collected at the bottom forming a bulbous structure might be the answer.
Yes, I would think a pilot would get an unsettled feeling with ice hanging off the wings.
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Nice pendulum and frond, both caught in the same image. I didn’t expect to see the latter when looking at the former.
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Mostly I find these icicles hanging above the water and nothing else so this was a little different. Thanks, Tanja!
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Neat composition – and what a curious phenomenon.
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Thanks, Tom! I love finding these shaped icicles.
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Never seen this.
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It is actually quite common although the shapes are often different.
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