Tag Archives: snow

Photo of the Week – January 27, 2016

Posted on by
8

One of my favorite winter photography subjects is the kind of “window” created by melting snow around prairie plants.  When the sun is shining, dried plants often warm up enough to melt the snow around them a little faster than the rest of the snow nearby.  Those melted windows or portholes make for very interesting (to me) patterns and photographic subjects.  Last weekend, my boys and I were out at our prairie on a beautiful day.  While they built snow forts on the frozen pond and threw snowballs at each other, I wandered around looking for windows in the snow.

I am an odd duck, aren’t I?

h

A window in melting snow above western ragweed.  Helzer family prairie.

h

Another ragweed plant and melting snow.

j

A jumble of grass leaves and melting snow.

j

Scribner’s panicum beneath melting snow.

I’m sure I’m not the only one in the world who finds these little windows attractive…

Ok, that’s not true –  I may very well be the only person in the world who pays any attention to them.  I guess it’s not the worst eccentricity I could have (or do have).  At least I don’t go on long rants about imaginary conspiracies involving cute furry semi-aquatic animals.

Oh wait.

Photo of the Week – January 22, 2016

Posted on by
1

Just as I did last week, I’m posting a few more winter photos from my archives.

gh

Frosty plants on the frozen Platte River, Nebraska.

Laying flat on one’s stomach on a frozen river might not sound like much fun to you, but it does give  you a neat perspective on the world.  (Plus, it spreads body weight to help prevent falling through the ice!)  The photo above was taken on a very cold day when frost had formed on vegetation along the river – especially right above the frozen river surface.

nouse

Mouse tracks in the snow.

The above photo shows mouse tracks leading in and out of a hole in the snow.  Winter is a great time to see small mammal activity – especially when snow is on the ground and the temperature is relatively moderate.  Speaking of small mammals, our Hubbard Fellow Evan Barrientos wrote a fantastic blog post for the Platte Basin Timelapse project about Master Naturalist Mike Schrad and his work to help us evaluate small mammal use of restored grasslands here in the Platte River Prairies.  I urge you to click here to read that post, which includes some beautiful photos.

gh

Frost on ice formation.

Ice patterns are always a favorite photo subject for me.  The freezing and melting of water creates endless fascinating shapes and patterns that are fun to explore and photograph.