Post Oak Park: January 2017

We don't get temperatures in the teens very often in North Texas, much less snow with them. But that's exactly what we had over the past couple of the days. And those low temperatures enabled the little bit of snow we got on Friday to stick around a bit. So I decided to head over to Post Oak Park Saturday morning to see what a familiar area looked like in some very unfamiliar conditions.

Ice was trying to claim the pond, but hadn't quite managed.  Still, there was enough to create some interesting textures on the surface of the water.

The bare trees on the shore gave long reflections.

The unusual cold seemed to suck all the warmth out of golden hour, leaving a frigid blue cast to the scene.

The front lines of the battle between ice and water.

I loved the snowy tips of this little reed that had somehow gotten bent over and frozen into the pond.  Even if I had a macro lens to focus on them, I would have been a bit reluctant to stand on the thin ice for a shot.

The marsh was equally wintry, with very little of the normal songbird activity.

As I continued my walk around the park, I noticed part of the reason for the quiet.  At least 20 female red-winged blackbirds were all perched in one tree, apparently waiting for the sun to give them just a little more motivation to start their days.

The only other bird I was able to get a decent shot of was this savannah sparrow, still with a bit of frost on its tail.

The bracing morning walk was very reminiscent of living in Colorado!