Well, the temperatures have swung back up and our snow is rapidly melting. I only managed a couple brief photography jaunts during the cold snap/snow, but they were enjoyable. Below is my favorite photo from this most recent snow.

Last week, I was honored to be a guest speaker at the Illinois Association of Conservation Districts Conference at Starved Rock State Park. It was great to catch up with some old friends and meet more. I was really impressed with the energy of the group and with the creativity and thoughtfulness being applied to conservation challenges.

On the first morning of the conference, we took a quick hike up a couple canyons in the park. We got to admire both water-carved sandstone formations and frozen waterfalls. The bigger of the frozen falls, unfortunately, had broken off, but was still impressive. A smaller version in the next canyon, though, was still intact and made for some fun photography.

We got back to Nebraska Friday night – just in time for me to get out for a Saturday morning photography hike before temperatures rose and started to melt all the snow. I got up early enough Saturday that I was at Gjerloff Prairie before sunrise. I had the place to myself, and only a cross country skier the previous day had made tracks through the new snow before I arrived. (Well, not counting the birds, deer, coyotes, mice, etc.)

It was a pleasant morning for a hike, despite the cold temperature (about 10 degrees F). The evidence of breezes during the two previous days were everywhere – especially in the way grasses had traced patterns in the snow – but there was only a gentle breath of wind while I walked.

Numerous birds and mice had been out feeding and had left their tracks all over. They also left some of their food scattered about. One patch of smooth sumac had clearly been worked over by one or more mice. It/they had climbed up and torn quite a few fruits from the top of the shrubs. Quite a few were still in the snow when I arrived, looking like bright red beads. There were also a lot of big bluestem seeds scattered around where birds had clearly been foraging on grasses.

By the time I finished my hike, the temperature had risen 10 degrees and there was the distinct feel of a day that was going to get much warmer (which it did). It’s still February, so maybe we’ll get another shot of snow before the winter ends? I sure hope so.