Snow Day!

Hope everyone got a chance to get outside this week and enjoy the snow. On Wednesday before work I took the short drive to Negri Nepote Grassland Preserve. Despite the occasional 'blizzard', I can't recall a time when literally everything had snow on it. Every branch, every blade of grass...just everything. It was really neat.

Photograph by Bill Lynch (c) 2009

The trail at the grasslands heads out into some fields and eventually winds around into some forested land. It's really not hard to navigate, despite some of the trail markers:

Photograph by Bill Lynch (c) 2009

Once the sun had been out for a few hours the birds started to get going. A female Northern Harrier was out hunting along with a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, some Turkey Vultures, and the ever-present Red-Tailed Hawks. The fields and forest edge produced more Dark-Eyed Juncos than I could count, a flock of American Tree Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Song Sparrows, and even a few Yellow-Rumped Warblers! Taking the trail through the trees produced some remarkably beautiful scenery.

Photograph by Bill Lynch (c) 2009

Eventually the trail reemerges into the fields and winds around near some farmland. At times it seemed as though there wasn't a sound to be heard, until a flock of Canada Geese flew by, or the gentle tapping of a Downy Woodpecker began. It is a truly serene feeling to be able to walk through unspoiled snow and to hear life persist through the cold.