Winter Woes, Winter Wows

Talk about cabin fever...after being holed up for over two weeks, it was great just to get in the car and get out in the Hills on Friday, despite the overcast sky. I decided to look for bald eagles along the two Park borders where I've seen them before....

Taking the dirt road (which was covered in snow about a foot deep between the tire ruts) that heads SE and then S of Custer Park, down thru Wind Cave Nat'l Park, I didn't see any baldies, but I did come across four elk. They took off as I neared so this was the best shot I could get...

I saw this shrike at a good distance in a pine...to me it looks like a Northern shrike, not the loggerhead. If it's a No. shrike then it's a lifer for me. (Update: I forgot to check the migration map; this would be the No. shrike, while the loggerhead shrike is a summer visitor.)

This big fella was standing in the same upper grasslands area that I saw the elk...he wasn't alone but I thought he looked the coolest...

I checked out the picnic area at Wind Cave, a good birding spot...this peek-a-boo pine grosbeak IS a lifer! Wish I could've seen all of it but it refused to cooperate...a winter visitor to the Dakotas...

While traipsing around Wind Cave, I spotted a doe above me on the hillside before she spotted me...yet another deer making a face at me...she was followed by two more does...

A Townsend's solitaire (I'd labeled this a willow flycatcher but again, wrong time of year...T's solitaire is not in my eastern ed. field guide but I was aware of them)...was up in the Rocky Mt. juniper surveilling any movement below...

The snowy trail from the picnic area to the cave...the sun was finally breaking thru the clouds...

A dark-eyed 'white-winged' junco on stone steps near the cave...

A black-capped chickadee amid a tangle of Rocky Mt. juniper branches...

The red-breasted nuthatches were busy around the cave, pecking at bark...it sounds like mini woodpeckers hammering.

Wanda, my thoughts are with you and 'herhusband' at this time, hope he is recovering well...

February 2010 ~ Favorite Moments

Sigh...I haven't been out with the camera since Christmas Day, when I took the photos of the ice crystals in my backyard...and even that doesn't really 'count' since I didn't go anywhere...the head cold is gone, the ugly cold sore scabs are too, finally (I honestly looked like a rodeo clown w/ road rash all around and on her nose)...the skin underneath is still a bright red...anyway, I do hope to get out soon, I need to...but the light today isn't good...in the meantime, I thought I'd post photos from last year's favorites, starting with two particular days last Feb. Both days were when I took a drive through Custer State Park...

Feb. 10th, 2010, I came upon a herd of buffalo by the side of the road, including this wary youngster...

And further down the wildlife loop, this clean, healthy-looking antelope, seeming a bit less wary...

And further yet, a black-billed magpie took flight from a pine tree when I tried to get a shot of it perched...but then, I like this shot in motion. The magpies like this one particular area of the loop road; I have no idea why...

Feb. 24th, 2010, was a very special day I won't forget...I came upon two bald eagles perched in a dead tree at the border of Custer State/Wind Cave Nat'l Parks...one eagle flew off when I turned around and went back, but one stayed put and allowed me to take photos for several minutes. Probably, it turns out, because its left claw was deformed...

On the opposite side of the road from the eagle, a coyote trotted by...

At a picnic area in Wind Cave Nat'l Park, I got this interesting shot of a white-breasted nuthatch as it skittered up and around a pine tree, and dug out what looks like a seed...

Is anyone else sharing their favorite shots from 2010? My laptop was down for over a week...I had my photos moved to an external drive by the Geeks but some folders were missing and I was worried I'd lost them...a Dell tech came yesterday and replaced the motherboard and a RAM card and my computer's working again (thank heavens for warranties), and my photos are all still on the hard drive...talk about relief.

Finest Holiday Crystal

(I wanted to do this post earlier but I have been sick with a nasty head cold.....)

On Christmas Day morning, I stepped outside to take these photos of the 3-day old ice crystals that had been 'growing' on the dormant plant life and other objects...The beautiful crystals were at their peak Christmas Day morning and gone later the same day...

On the poplar tree branches...

And below it, the cinquefoil shrub...

A house finch up in the crystal lined poplar...the sunlight meant the phenom was doomed...

Will this leaf stay attached until spring?!

The neighbor's chainlink fence...a whole wall of this is pretty cool-looking!

A very Happy New Year to All of You!!