During the winter, prairie becomes nearly monochromatic. The scarcity of color exposes the architecture of the plants. It’s as if the prairie has been deconstructed before our eyes, stripped down to its framework before being rebuilt for the next season.
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) in winter prairie. Sarpy County, Nebraska
We got our first snow of the season this weekend. Last night, I spent a couple hours walking with my camera at our family prairie south of town. The warm and dry November weather was really nice, but it was good to be out in the snow again.
Late afternoon sunshine made the tall grasses glow, and set them off nicely against the backdrop of snow.
Ragweed plants caught snow in their branches, making them look like little dancing ladies.
Wind and birds had knocked grass seeds, including this indiangrass seed, from the stems. This early in the winter, seeds are still abundant and tracks of birds and small mammals showed that many of them were being harvested from the snow.
It was nearly dark when I finished my walk. There was just enough light from the last glow of sunlight on the horizon to silhouette this false gromwell plant (Onosmodium molle) against the drifted snow.
The Prairie Ecologist 