This is my first post of 2022! I hope everyone has been able to be safe and well. Like clockwork, the common redpolls returned to my yard on Christmas Eve, pretty much to the day that that showed up in 2020. Often confused with chipping sparrows or house finches, common redpolls spend most of the year in the artic and only come south during the winter months. In years of large migrations, they may winter as far south as Colorado but often don’t go that far. I feel pretty lucky to have these artic visitors come now for the past three winters.

I wish everyone has a safe New Years and that 2022 is an amazing year for everyone! Thank you for all the support in 2021 and going into the new year. I truly appreciate everyone who follows my blog and my facebook posts. The image here shows Earthquake Lake in early winter last year. A really cold spell allowed the lake to freeze over before the snow accumulated on it. The ice trapped air bubbles as they rose to the surface. It can’t be seen in a photo but the ice was about a foot thick already at this point and people were ice skating on the lake. Conditions like are really rare so I spent several days photographing the lake before a big snowstorm finally came in and covered the ice.

On December 10th of this year, I thought we might have the first Christmas that I’ve experienced in Montana without snow. This is what Yellowstone looked like at that time. Then on December 12th, the winter snows finally arrived. Well for the past two weeks now the snow have come almost non-stop and we have a snowpack of several feet. With it snowing so much, I actually haven’t been out at all though I sure hope to very soon.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday season! Winter is great time to view trumpeter swans withing the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In the warmer months, they’re spread out and much of their breeding habitat is closed so we don’t disturb nests and to protect the young. But in the winter, when a lot of water ways are frozen, they congregate in large numbers where there is open water. Here a mallard hen takes flight just as I begin photographing this beautiful swan.

^{Pine Grosbeak. Canon R5, 500mm, tripod, 1/4000 @ f5.6, ISO 1600}

About a week ago, we still didn’t have any snow on the ground. Since then, we’ve had about two feet of snow and have a decent snowpack for this time of year. Along with winter finally arriving, the pine grosbeaks have returned. The first pair actually arrived on November 22nd, but now there’s about 10 to 15 regularly showing up in my backyard. Hopefully the snow will continue, though I won’t complain about a sunny day here or there. The snowpack we accumulate over the winter is responsible for much of the water we have through the summer, so the ecosystem is very dependent on winter snow.

Yesterday, December 15th, roads in the interior of Yellowstone opened to oversnow vehicles. Access to the Old Faithful and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone areas are now accessible via guided snowcoach and snowmobile tours through early March. The road from Mammoth Hot Springs through to Cooke City, Montana is open to vehicles year round. As late as last week, we actually had no snow on the ground but a snow storm came in that lasted several days and now we are a winter wonderland right on time for the winter season of Yellowstone. The image above was taken several years ago in February in Yellowstone’s northern range. A huge herd of migrating bison were on the move from the Blacktail Plateau area towards Lamar Valley. They stretched out over several miles. I leaned out the car window to get this shot. Even at f16, at 500mm, getting much depth of field was impossible. If you’ve been in the visitor center bookstore at Old Faithful, you’ve seen this image covering the wall behind the cashiers.

Seeing how long production and shipping time is currently taking for the products I sell, I have revised my cut-off day for orders to be received so that they arrive in time for Christmas. As of today, the last day I will accept orders and state they will arrive in time for Christmas is this Friday, December 3rd. I might be able to get an ordered delivered after that date but will not guarantee it. As for the photo above, it was taken in January 2019. Unfortunately, unseasonably warm temperatures have melted away most of the snow we had, which wasn’t much.

A few mornings ago, I had this cool encounter with a little red fox. One of the great things about living where I do is that I never know from day to day what I might see while out and about. Of course, a lot of times I don’t see anything other than the beautiful landscape, but anything is possible. We’re off to a slow start to snow season and while we had an inch or two over the past couple of days, I’m hoping we start to get much more so that we can end the drought we’ve been experiencing. As for the fox, I tried to remain as still as possible. He or she moved by quickly but gave me a few interesting poses. The entire encounter lasted more than a couple of minutes but it certainly made my day.

This image was from my last regular photography trip into Yellowstone National Park for the summer 2021 season. The sky promised some nice color for sunrise but due to layer of low clouds you can see in the bottom of the sky of this image, the colorful sunrise didn’t happen. But the sun did break out and cause the low layer of clouds to turn pink and red while the high clouds were white. This was probably thirty minutes after sunrise and I don’t recall seeing it happen quite like this before. But needless to say, I quickly found a location that showed the brilliant red, white, and blue sky with an interesting foreground.

Before Yellowstone closed for the summer season, I was fortunate enough to see Fountain Geyser erupt. I’ve actually seen it several times this summer but this time it started while I was walking the boardwalk at Fountain Paint Pots with some nice light and it wasn’t completely fogged in. On a previous eruption a week or so earlier, I witnessed Morning’s Thief Geyser erupting to heights of about 30 feet while Fountain was playing, so I added a a bonus photo of it below.