Tag Archives: snow

Photo of the Week – April 25, 2013

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I made a quick trip up to our Niobrara Valley Preserve this week to help set up time lapse cameras that will help document recovery from last year’s massive wildfires.  More on that next week…

The weather followed the same pattern we’ve seen the last couple weeks; cold and wet early, followed by gradual warming.  We delayed the trip a day to wait for the latest snowstorm to move through, but three inches of snow were waiting when we arrived mid-day on Tuesday.

Late April snow covers the Niobrara Valley.

Late April snow covers the Niobrara Valley.  The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve – Nebraska.

Most of the snow had melted by Tuesday evening, leaving barren post-wildfire soils exposed once more.  The cool spring has slowed early vegetation growth, though there were some sedges and a very few other species starting to green up in the prairies.

A rivulet of water runs out of melting snow.

A rivulet of water runs out of melting snow in the burned pine woodland north of the river.

Some of the cameras we set up will watch for soil erosion.  I was pleased not to see any evidence that severe erosion started over the winter – even with some decent rain and snow events.  There has been some, of course, but less than I’d expected.  Some of the erosion created interesting patterns in the ashy sandy soils (below).

A bur oak leaf lies in a pattern of sand and ash.

A bur oak leaf lies in a pattern of sand and ash.

The next several weeks and months of green-up will bring big changes to the appearance of the Niobrara Valley, which has been largely barren and drab-colored since the wildfires last July.  It’ll be really nice to see some green there again.

Photo of the Week – February 28, 2013

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Here’s a photo interpretation puzzle for you.

Last Saturday, I was hiking through the fresh snow in a small local prairie when I found this interesting print. 

An interesting print in fresh snow. Leadership Center Prairie - Aurora, Nebraska.

An interesting print in fresh snow. Leadership Center Prairie – Aurora, Nebraska.

Clearly the print was made by a bird, but what kind, and what was it doing?  Judging by the size of the wing print, the bird was about the size of a robin.  There were no other tracks or prints in the snow nearby, other than the small streak just to the left of the bird print.

Here’s my best guess – see what you think:

I think the print was made by a small raptor; probably a sharp-shinned hawk.  My guess is that the hawk was swooping down after a sparrow, which was flying low to the ground.  As the hawk neared the ground, the sparrow spotted it coming from its right, and was just able to evade the hawk – barely dragging its tail along the surface of the snow as it dodged away.  Meanwhile, the hawk flared its wings to avoid hitting the ground, and flapped hard to regain the air – and both wings made slight contact with the snow as it did so.  Its narrow tail also left a mark.  The hawk’s feet scuffed the snow twice – once in the middle of the print, and again where the “head” of the print is as the bird lifted back into the air.   

Agree?  Disagree?  Ok, what’s your guess, and why?