A few views of the recent cold and snow here at the home park. Our playground includes a brick sculpture area - this brick bluebird has a new white jacket!





You can see that the only playground visitors were some squirrels (looking for the "nutty" park ranger?)





Shallower portions of our park lake had a good coating of ice and snow - thick enough to bear the weight of a coyote, but not of a person!







Here are a few more views of the frozen lake…









And some of the trees and plants along the frozen shore.





Deeper portions of the lake did not freeze, but did have a good "coat" of mist and fog on the icy mornings.





Speaking of icy, these Ring-Billed Gulls must have been practicing their ice skating!





A Red Fox and a 'Possum shared a trail footbridge - you can see where the 'Possum was dragging his (cold and naked) tail…





Hope you enjoyed these glimpses of a (for us) rather rare cold and snowy spell. Thanks for any comments & critique!

[jac]

A really nice series. Love the gulls

[CreationBear]

A great set--the one in the middle (with the downed, rime-coated tree out over the water) reminds me of Mark Littlejohn...which is about the highest praise I can come up with.

Otherwise, I was just wondering how "Wildlife Week" went--glad you are none the worse for wear...I'd much rather spend a snowy day in the Park than at home, but the probability of getting stuck in between has kept me on the porch most of the winter.

[slowpez]

Those misty foggy lake shots are just beautiful.

[manishved]

Snowy dowey.....

[mole]

Jac - Gulls can be pests, but they sure are easy to photograph and fun to observe. These are the Ring-Billed Gulls - smaller cousins of the Herring Gulls. They (ring-billed) spend the summers along the coast, and come inland for the winter.

CreationBear - You are too kind! So glad you liked the lake/tree/mist scene. To answer your question, I only did one hike for them this year. Was supposed to be up to Rocky Top, but road conditions necessitated a change. There are a few photos from the Wilderness Wildlife Week hike here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/12-post-your-photos/250083-landscape-bask...ml#post2670741 Was very glad that I borrowed the home park's four wheel drive vehicle (truck assigned to me is 2-wheel drive) - especially for the trip back home!

Susan - As you know, our region is blessed with abundant moisture, and so plenty of chances to enjoy the fog & mist. Glad you enjoyed these!

Manishved - Thanks!!

[TonyTurley]

Beautiful! We had some of that fog over our waters in our recent Arctic blast. I should have gotten out and shot more than I did.

Tony

[OnTheWeb]

Great series. I've not been brave enough to take the gear out in the brutal cold this year.