Here are more winter scenes from the farm.

A cold morning

Sun peeking through on the hillside

Hoarfrost along the creek

Mist above the creek

Hoarfrost on willow

Sunrise

Mike – buried in his fur – it was a very cold day.

Every once in a while we see the sun.

This was a storm of thick, heavy snow

Snowy driveway

Sumac Prairie

Cabin Creek is a favorite place for the deer to gather.  These two bucks were having a battle.

Bobcat checking out one of the trail cameras

Another recent scene on the Cabin Creek camera.  The crows appreciate the running water from the spring – it only freezes when it’s very cold.

We did our annual Golden Eagle count, but it was a terrible day for it – warm, and first rainy then misty.

This was when we first set out – we could barely see the tops of the bluffs.  Later the mist came down and we could see even less.  Mike and I didn’t see any Golden Eagles.  Some other people saw a few, but nothing like the sightings in other years.

I got a new camera  a few weeks ago – so I can take better photos of small creatures.  There aren’t many creatures to try it on in the winter,  but I’ve found a few.

Ctenucha Moth caterpillar.  This species spends the winter as a caterpillar, and crawls out of the snow to wander around whenever the temperatures gets above about 20F.  This one still has a few snowflakes sticking to its bristles.

Rove Beetle

Another view of the Rove Beetle – I don’t know why it put its head in the snow.

One of my winter projects is to update all my web pages about our various prairies and prairie projects.  The latest one I’ve done is the 2016 update on East Center Valley Prairie.    I had sprinkled Fringed Gentian seeds there several years ago, and this is the first summer I’d seen so many blooming.   (It’s fun to look at pictures of green leaves and blooming flowers for a change.)

Back to winter – looking north into Center Valley from the road