Peaceful GlowPosted by drfl on May 20th, 2009

While growing up my parents always thought it was important to travel the area in which you live.  This doesn’t mean that’s all we did, but we would make it a point to see some of what the area has to offer.  Since I grew up in Nebraska I had the opportunity to see western Nebraska, Scottsbluff, Chimney Rock, Pioneer Village, and other parts of the state many people never see.  Now that I am adult with my family, I have also tried to plan trips for my family to see the different areas close-by. 

Today’s post comes out of my recent trip with my family to the Valentine, Nebraska area.  It’s an image of the grasslands and prairie in the sandhills at Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge.  At sunset on this particular evening the grass glowed golden with the light of the setting sun and the clouds reflected the last color of the warm light in the distance above the hills. 

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/14, 1/8 sec.
Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska

Buffalo ProfilePosted by drfl on May 18th, 2009

I recently took a 4 day excursion to the Valentine region of north-central Nebraska with my family to see some different animals and landscapes.  One of the first parts we visited was Ft. Niobrara Wildlife Refuge about 4 miles outside of town.  Here we saw buffalo roaming, prairie dogs popping, and elk meandering all around.  Over the next couple of weeks I will be blogging about some of what I saw while there.  Today’s post is a closeup of a buffalo in the park, also known as Bison.  I have featured buffalo before, but if you are unfamiliar with buffalo, I have grabbed a little tidbit from Wikipedia:

A bison has a shaggy, long, dark brown winter coat, and a lighter weight, lighter brown summer coat. Bison can reach up to 2 meters (6.6 ft) tall, 3 meters (10 ft) long, and weigh 400 kilograms (882 lb) to 1,000 kilograms (2,205 lb). As typical in ungulates, the male bison is slightly larger. The biggest specimens on record have weighed as much as 1,133 kilograms (2,500 lb). The heads and forequarters are massive, and both sexes have short, curved horns, which they use in fighting for status within the herd and for defense.

Bison are herbivores, grazing on the grasses and sedges of the North American prairies. They eat in the morning and evening, and rest during the day. Bison mate in August and September; gestation is 285 days. A single reddish-brown calf is born the following spring, and it nurses for a year. Bison are mature at three years of age, and have a life expectancy of approximately 15 years in the wild and up to 25 years in captivity.

Juveniles are lighter in color than mature bison for the first three months of life. One very rare condition is the white buffalo, where the calf turns entirely white. White bison are considered sacred by many Native Americans.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/7.1, 1/100 sec.
Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, Valentine, Nebraska