Kim and I have an annual tradition of spending time at the Niobrara Valley Preserve during Christmas break. This year, we were particularly excited to see a forecast of 10-14 inches of snow during our visit and we made sure to arrive before the snow. We hoped to get pleasantly snowed in for a few days and then catch a little sunshine for some good hiking and photography before we came back home. The snow was a little disappointing – only 4-5 inches – but the trip has been fantastic.
Yesterday, I took a walk out into the blowing snow to stretch my legs and take a few photos. This morning, the snow and sky had lightened up quite a bit and I took the truck out to look for bison while Kim slept in a little. As I write this, the sun is coming out and it looks like a great day for an afternoon hike. I hope the rest of you are having as much fun as we are this week… Here are a few photos from the last couple days.
The Prairie Ecologist 
It looks so wonderfully wild, well, except maybe that cow with the ear tag. Enjoy!
Sooo nice to see these beautiful photographs! (I’m think your lil ear-tag-buddy’s lookin 4 handouts)
It is extremely tough to pic a fav…torn between the nice stormy fence line shot or gorgeous bison. But the Bison’s asymetrical (windblown) bangs and beard just pushes it over the top for me. #1
Thank you for a year full of images to savor and captions to match. You are a treasure! Happy New Year to you and to all the wild beings you bring to us.
The wild things that live outside are reluctant to tell us, in so many words, how much land they see and cover in their daily and nightly beat. We are curious about this, for it gives us the ratio between the size of their universe and the size of ours, and it conveniently begs the much more important question, who is the more thoroughly acquainted with the world in which we all live. Paraphrased – Aldo Leopold
This is my first email from you. What a delight! Such beautiful photos. Grateful for Cindy Crosby mentioning you in her blog.
Love your shot of the fence line in a snow storm!
The amount of snow you got still made for some great photos!