Photo of the Week – January 22, 2016

Just as I did last week, I’m posting a few more winter photos from my archives.

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Frosty plants on the frozen Platte River, Nebraska.

Laying flat on one’s stomach on a frozen river might not sound like much fun to you, but it does give  you a neat perspective on the world.  (Plus, it spreads body weight to help prevent falling through the ice!)  The photo above was taken on a very cold day when frost had formed on vegetation along the river – especially right above the frozen river surface.

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Mouse tracks in the snow.

The above photo shows mouse tracks leading in and out of a hole in the snow.  Winter is a great time to see small mammal activity – especially when snow is on the ground and the temperature is relatively moderate.  Speaking of small mammals, our Hubbard Fellow Evan Barrientos wrote a fantastic blog post for the Platte Basin Timelapse project about Master Naturalist Mike Schrad and his work to help us evaluate small mammal use of restored grasslands here in the Platte River Prairies.  I urge you to click here to read that post, which includes some beautiful photos.

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Frost on ice formation.

Ice patterns are always a favorite photo subject for me.  The freezing and melting of water creates endless fascinating shapes and patterns that are fun to explore and photograph.

This entry was posted in Prairie Animals, Prairie Photography and tagged , , , , , , by Chris Helzer. Bookmark the permalink.

About Chris Helzer

Chris Helzer is the Director of Science for The Nature Conservancy in Nebraska. His main role is to evaluate and capture lessons from the Conservancy’s land management and restoration work and then share those lessons with other landowners – both private and public. In addition, Chris works to raise awareness about the importance of prairies and their conservation through his writing, photography, and presentations to various groups. Chris is also the author of "The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States", published by the University of Iowa Press. He lives in Aurora, Nebraska with his wife Kim and their children.

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