Tuesday morning was on the chilly side.  When I woke up, it was clear, calm, and minus five degrees Fahrenheit.  In short, a perfect day to head out for some prairie photography!

A frosty seed head of Canada wild rye at a restored prairie on the campus of The Leadership Center - Aurora, Nebraska.

As the sun rose, I was tramping through the snow in a small restored prairie on the east side of Aurora.  I shared the prairie with a small flock of tree sparrows moving around the prairie and feeding on seeds from tall wildflowers and grasses.  There were also a few tracks of mice through the snow, and a great horned owl flushed from the wooded edge of the prairie as I walked in.  Otherwise, it was just me and a lot of frosty prairie plants.

I didn’t set out to photograph any particular thing, but I ended up focusing mainly on frozen flowers.  Below are a few of the images I came home with.  (Click on any photo to see a larger, sharper version of it.)

Entire-leaf rosinweed

New England aster

Tall boneset (Eupatorium altissimum)

Common evening primrose

Annual sunflower (Helianthus annuus)

Canada wild rye