Sunny snow Sunday

Just before the bridge on the north side is becoming the hot spot for deer lately and for the second time now I've seen a group of them laying down in the snow. I first noticed a large doe, then two more. The young one, whom I'm starting to easily recognize now, was laying in the clearest area and presented the only decent photo opportunity. Towards the east side I veered off the trail into the woods a little, hoping to find the other half of the shed antler shown to me the day before. No such luck for me so I settled on some other sights such as this shelf mushroom. Later I walked up on a rabbit sitting still in the snow which is hard to do lately because of the loud, icy trails. On the south side I paused on the bridge over Shingle Creek and noticed a small tree enveloped with coils of some other plant growth. It's amazing that plants can grow this fast on their own in the wild.

Back to Winter

After the warm temps melted a fair amount of snow and ice, it's turned cold again with evenings dipping slightly below zero. There's barely any open water now compared to just last week. Saw a group of 6 or 7 deer on the west side but they were too far back in the woods for a photo. Since I highly doubted I'd see any more deer after that I figured I'd try some bird shots. Birds are so much tougher as they don't sit still for long. Some, like this Chickadee are gone a half a second after you snap the shutter. Shortly later I ran into two guys at the bridge. One guy had some nice camera equipment and the other was holding a large deer antler. I stopped to talk to them and they said they had found the shed antler out in the woods while photographing birds. It was in near perfect shape. As I counted the 5 tines on the antler, I wondered if it was from the 10pt Buck I saw just last week. I still had the pics on my camera and I showed them as we speculated as to whether or not it may have belonged to the same deer. They also had a nice photo of a Great Horned Owl which spurred a good conversation about the various birds we'd all seen in the park. Birds seemed to be the theme of the day, though I also saw a few squirrels and rabbits out enjoying the sun.

Monster Buck

Well, I didn't think the trails could get any worse but I guess I was wrong. After receiving close to a half an inch of rain with temps near or below freezing, I would have had better luck on skates today. Not only where the paved trails worse, but the wood chip trails were now equally as challenging. At least yesterday I could walk on top of the frozen snow with some success. Today, wherever you planted your foot, it wouldn't stay there. My feet would shift 3-4 inches to either side, or "bam" they would plunge 6-8 inches downwards through the snow that was now as soft as it had fallen this morning. As I foolishly "danced" my way up the icy trail I neared Shingle Creek and a loud noise startled me. A huge flock of ducks spooked and flapped noisily further down the creek. I thought it was weird as there was no way they could have seen me yet. Just a few feet from the bridge, I realized what most likely had spooked them. A huge ten-point Buck was standing there right in front of me, high up on on the bank of the creek. I couldn't believe it, this was the kind of photo I'd been trying to get ever since first taking my camera with me on walks here years ago. Among the hundreds of deer I've seen here at Palmer Lake, very few are Bucks and even fewer are mature Bucks like this one. I snapped as many pics as I could before he finally got nervous enough and bounced off into the woods. He stayed there motionless for quite a while and a few other people walked right by me and him on the trail not even knowing he was there. He was so motionless that I even lost sight of him a couple times though I knew right were he was. After all was still again, he walked out into the open one last time before spotting me again and took off full steam across the trail and then across an open field. One thing for sure I've come to learn about Bucks is that they are FAR more cautious and untrusting of humans than their female counterpart. On the south side, Shingle Creek is actually opening up completely now, having it's icy coating melted from both the bottom and the top. This photo on the bottom is from yesterday and the one on top from today.

Soggy Saturday

I started my walk fairly early on Saturday and was surprised to have to deal with a spring-time rain in the middle of January. Had it not been for my many layers I would have been soaked by about a quarter of the way around. I stopped on the west side watching the rain puddle on top of the ice where the water flows back into Shingle Creek. As the rain hit the hard packed snow and ice, it froze upon impact, turning the paved trail around the park into a virtual skating rink. Seriously, this was the toughest time I'd ever had simply walking around the park. After three miles of keeping my knees locked in order to keep from falling on my ass, my legs felt as if they'd run a ten mile marathon. Whenever I could, I hit the wood chip trails and had much more traction on the frozen snow. Rain droplets hung everywhere and it was a downright dismal day.

Sunday Sunrise

Decided to take a very early walk today and maybe catch the sunrise. I hurried round to the west side just in time to capture a red white and blue striped sky. It was cold and quiet for the most part.









Much of the woods and trees were dull silhouettes against the low sun and I almost missed this Barred Owl on the northeast corner. Later as the sun rose higher it cast an orange glow on the big cottonwoods along Shingle Creek.

January Thaw

Today was apparently the first day we've been above freezing since Christmas day. It darn near felt like spring despite the 10+ inches of snow still on the ground. Lots of people were out today and I even saw an elderly couple out jogging. Not only were both of them probably in their seventies, the guy was wearing shorts! If there weren't so many other people around I probably would have taken a picture of him. Ha ha. On a less busy part of the trail, I almost walked right into a doe standing motionless just feet off the trail. As I went for my camera she spooked and retreated back into some thick woods. I noticed what looked like two young ones with her. The longer I watched, the more movement I saw back in the woods. In all I think there were six or seven of them but none ventured close enough for a decent photo. I walked up the trail further to a clearing and I could see a couple of them from a distance and was the only photo I got. On the south side I took the woodchip trail and noticed a round little ball of fur sitting on top of the snow. I thought it was dead but then it started moving. It didn't look like a mouse as it had a much shorter tail and no visible ears. Plus he was as round as a tennis ball. I got so close to him I wondered if he was injured or deaf but then he finally ran away. After looking online I think it was a Vole.

First time snowshoeing!

There's more pictures than usual on this post but not because of all the wildlife I saw. Rather, it was the first time I've ever tried snowshoeing. With temps near zero for nearly two weeks straight I figured it was pretty safe to travel across the water and up the creek. The first thing I noticed upon walking onto the lake were "snow dunes" carved by the wind. It was very cool walking up the creek as I was really in the middle of the park with scenery I just don't ever see. In places you could look a long way without seeing anything man-made. After coming up to a sharp bend in the creek I could see how close I was to the small section of woods that sit smack dab in the middle of the park. I hiked up the embankment, backtracked a little and I was there. This was only the second time I'd ever made it out to the middle and right away I noticed the huge wild trees that have grown undisturbed for decades. After exploring for a bit and kicking up a deer here and there I headed back north. This would be a good point to show the path I took -snowshoe in blue and regular path in pink. About the time I finally made it back to the path is when I saw this large hawk and was the only wildlife that sat still for any time while my snowshoes crunched along loudly. I figured I'd even take a picture of them to mark the occasion. After being on them for a while it felt weird to walk normally again on the path. On the east side where the path comes close to the lake again, I decided to give it another go. It was fun to take a shortcut that won't even exist in another few months. As I was getting closer to the parking lot I began to notice how the snow drifts up towards -but not touch- the peninsulas of cattails. It was very weird as every outcropping had the same effect with close to a 3 foot drop in snow depth.

Winter wonderland

Another day below zero with clear blue skies. While crossing the bridge over Shingle Creek I stopped to listen to an owl and realized it wasn't far away. I figured if I could find him and get at least one photo, it would break my slump of having never spotted one on a bright sunny day. After trudging through 20 inch snow drifts towards the hooting, I realized a shorter path would be to just walk right on top of the creek. As I cautiously crept over the frozen water towards him, a second owl perched lower in the same tree soared out quickly. Soon the other followed and I was left half way down the creek with nothing to show for it. Having gone all this way I stopped to take in the new scenery I normally don't see. Two deer came bouncing out of nowhere and followed down the creek like it was a highway made just for them. After hiking all the way back to the path I actually got one more chance as I just barely noticed this motionless grey blob in some thick trees. It turned out to be a Barred Owl -the first one I've seen at Palmer Lake. A little further along I glanced towards the house where I'd seen the big group of deer earlier. Sure enough there was one there but to my surprise it was a six-point buck -a rare sight as of late. Back on the south side the frayed cattails were "glowing" against the low winter sun.

Cold New Years Day

Was 7º below zero on new years day 2010 but I still made it around the park. With the temps this low, all the snow we got over Christmas isn't going anywhere. In places the snowbanks are two to three feet deep. Again, walking was very loud so I didn't think I'd see many deer. Just before the bridge on the north side though, I spotted two of them walking way off in the distance. They were too far for a photo and as I was putting my camera away I noticed three more laying down in the snow. I don't know how they can lay in the cold snow like that. I thought maybe it conserves their energy better that way. Even though I was making lots of noise, and fairly close, they seemed content on just staying put. Some time after I saw a somewhat larger bird with a flash of red land way up in a tree. It made an unfamiliar noise so I zoomed in as quick as I could and got this one shot before he was gone. After looking it up in our bird guide I'm pretty sure it's a Red-Bellied Woodpecker.