Bird tracks in the snow

 Perfect imprints of a bird's feet in the snow.

Starling flock, Johnson County, IA

 A look closer into the texture of the starling flock.

Starling flock, Johnson County, IA

 Starling flock moving as a densely swarming blob.

Starling flock, Johnson County, IA

Dense flock of starlings taking off in a swarm from a cornfield.

Metal spider, Solon, IA

 Giant metal spider an somebody's front yard.

Hell Trail, Sugar Bottom Reserve, IA

Hand-made and unofficial label on a mountain biking trail.

Iowa River from Sugar Bottom Reserve

 Blue river and blue sky on a frosty winter morning.

Deep log split, Frytown Reserve, IA

 Deep dark cracks in an interesting shape going down into the center of a log.

Fungus on a log, Frytown Reserve, IA

A cascade of fungus draping down the edge of a log.

Skywalk Herky, Iowa City

A dark avian silhouette in the middle of a skywalk, Herky the Hawk contemplates traffic beneath his unseen leering grin.

Fluffed up perch

Salvatore perching all fluffed up across my legs.

Mountain biking bridges, Coralville, IA

 Layers of bridges on the edges and curves of this little valley.

Mountain biking bridge, Coralville, IA

I have always loved trails with wooden bridges, and the swooping curve on this one just delighted me. It's somehow just aesthetically satisfying for me when I walking on this sort of thing.

Mountain biking trail, Coralville, IA

 Mountain biking trail squiggling through woods at the crest of a smallish hill.

Frozen puddle, Coralville, IA

 Swooping shapes of air pockets in a frozen shallow puddle.

Frosted leaves, Coralville, IA

 Frost-crystalled leaves on dry winter ground.

Excavator, Coralville, IA

 Another shot of the excavator, digging the slightly damaged shapes of its curving metal teeth.

Excavator, Coralville, IA

Toothy maw of a large excavator parked in the crispy frozen grass.

Peeled banana tree, Hoover Nature Trail, IA

This tree is all peeled back down from its central core like a banana, possibly struck in the big 2020 derecho.

Stripped trunk, Hoover Nature Trail, IA

 Tree totally peeled of bark against a stark blue sky.

Deeply colored rings, Hoover Nature Trail, IA

 

Big, deeply colored rings on this fast growing tree - it's no wonder they needed to cut them back.

Planar pruning, Hoover Nature Trail, IA

Along one of my favorite walking trails, the maintainers pruned back harshly in a near-perfect flat plane, simply truncating every limb within a certain distance of the trail.

Swamp-side path, Iowa City

 Path through swampland on the South side of Iowa City.

A cold blue lake, Iowa City

 A shallow swampy lake during winter, when the geese have all departed.

Cold winter nest, Iowa City

 Another exposed cold winter nest.

Cold winter nest, Iowa City

An abandoned nest exposed to sight on bare branches in the cold of winter time.