Mule Deer on the prairies

On 21 January 2015, my daughter and I spent the day together, out in nature. I know I needed to get out myself and the fact that my daughter asked if we could do that, told me that she, too, needed to get a break from all the sadness and reminders of her big sister/my older daughter for a few hours. Friends have been telling me how important it is to be outdoors with my camera, especially at a time like this, and I know they are right.

Much as it would have been great to have gone looking for Snowy Owls, I just didn't feel up to that long of a drive. Instead, I drove to a much more familiar, closer area, SE of the city. The day was a mix of sun and cloudiness, and though the sun was in the wrong position for some of our shots, we did OK.

As for birds, we saw a couple of Great Horned Owls, a very distant Snowy Owl, a raptor of some kind (either a Prairie Falcon or a Gyrfalcon), several Gray Partridge and what I think must have been Horned Larks. This photo shows part of one of two large herds of deer that we stopped and watched. It was the first time my daughter had seen deer jumping over a fence : )

The rest of the day, we drove mostly roads that we had driven before, except for one short stretch where we found two old, red barns. This day was as much a barn day as a bird day. The larger barn was one that I had been looking forward to finding and seeing for the first time. I would love to have been able to get photos from both sides of it, but it was in a farmer's field that was, of course, private property. There is also an old, round, wooden grain bin and a smaller barn next to this barn. The second old barn was just up the road and round the corner from this larger barn.

I think being out with our cameras, driving the backroads, was therapeutic - certainly for me, as I could enjoy my daughter's company, and hopefully for her, too.