Winter Nature in Colorado. Rocky Mountain National Park.
One of the things that I loved when working part-time in Boulder was the chance to go to Rocky Mountain National park nearly every weekend. Several of the roads on the east side of the park are kept open year round. The following are some images I took of the landscape and the animals in the park.
The temperatures dropped from nearly 70°F (~20°C) yesterday to below freezing most of today. It was sunny most of the day, so the solar panels were generating electricity (50.3 kWh). Later in the afternoon some clouds rolled in, and we had a quick snow storm. I went out to get some pictures of the flowers that recently bloomed across the street with the recent snow before the sun went down. I also got some pictures of a turkey vulture soaring above my backyard in the late afternoon sun.
Although my neighbor got lots of maple sap from his trees this year, the tap he put in my maple tree didn’t produce much. Since it did get cold again, I will drill a new hole and see if I get anything. Maybe, my maple tree feels it already gave too much to the cicadas that live for 13 or 17 years under the tree.
After the storm passed, some clouds lit up as the sun went down.
Winter Nature in New Jersey. Sourland Mountain Preserve.
I went for a walkabout at the local Sourland Mountain Preserve on a snowy day and took a few pictures. The high-pressure gas-line right of way trail looked open, but I didn’t go very far. There were cattails in the marshy area, and some Mallard ducks swimming in the pond. The ducks usually leave as soon as the more boisterous Canada geese arrive, but on this snowy day the geese stayed away.
Individual images from the slide show can be viewed here.
Winter returned with more snow. A few images from a walkabout in my yard after digging a path from the house to the road. The snow plows hadn’t been through yet, so I wasn’t going anywhere. The only bird I saw was a White-throated Sparrow. It looked cold, and just wanted the snow to go away.