Thursday, January 15, 2015

Beauty in a Frosty week

"What a dreary day," commented a person I was talking to.  With heavy fog and frost covering everything, from the inside of buildings it may look dark and dreary; but from the outside it is really alive and beautiful.  All wildlife needs to eat to survive as they do not have a fast food joint to stop by to pick something up.

This muskrat and several others were pulling water plants to fill its daily needs


 
Here a Sharp-shinned hawk wait patiently for a hapless bird to come along.

 
A natural flocked fir tree shows which direction the breeze is blowing as it stacks up the frost crystals on the needles and cones.

 
A beautiful Sharp-tailed grouse has been picking up gravel and grain from the side of plowed roads but runs to safety in a snow covered field.

 
A Red-shafted Northern flicker appears to be shivering in a tree where a breezy has removed most of the frost.

 
A beautiful Long-eared owl looks through a frost-laden tree waiting for darkness to gather its supper. 

 
An Evening Grosbeak brings a lot of color to my backyard as he comes in to feed on the sunflower seeds.

 
And this pheasant hen is far from where she should be.  She and her friend, another hen, were found roaming the banks of the Henrys Fork of the Snake River between St. Anthony and Ashton.

 
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," and sometimes you must leave the confines of buildings to see it.  Just a couple of days in the wilds of Idaho during a "dark and dreary" week.  Thanks, God, for sending all this beauty for us to enjoy.

9 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

beautiful birds and mammal, too!

Lois Evensen said...

What wonderful winter shots! It's amazing how all of those creatures manage to survive the cold and limited food supply.

Bob Bushell said...

Superb array of birds, my favourites are the Grouse and the Long-eared Owl, absolutely stunning.

Irma said...

Beautiful pictures of the birds in the snow.
I like the long-eared owl, great !!
Best regards,
Irma

John's Island said...

Hi Bill, These pics are wonderful. Thank you for sharing. John

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Gorgeous pictures, Bill, on a cold, frosty day.... We had a Sharp-shinned Hawk visit our yard last week... Beautiful bird --but they love to munch on our Mourning Doves....

We have the Yellow-shafted Northern Flickers here...Beautiful birds.

Keep those pictures coming.
Hugs,
Betsy

RURAL said...

You take beautiful wildlife photos....simply gorgeous.

There is beauty in winter, we just need to look a little closer.

Jen

Grayquill said...

Your pictures always inspire - The beauty - WOW!

Mary Howell Cromer said...

Oh My Goodness my friend, you must not have received my messages/comments via Google +. I had you on that system and I cannot understand it At All, just do not like it! You had been changed over to that and no longer did I have you any other way. They have no links for blogs on Google +. I finally figured out a way to snag it and as of today, whew, you are back on my list! What a lovely grouping of birds and such. Take care~