Nothing like good wind burn.

Well, last Tuesday was quite busy for me. I decided to take a drive out to the Oxbow park/nature center to see if I could get any interesting shots or ideas from the animals they keep there. The weather was clear, but cold. Really cold, actually. The temp read at around 20 degrees, but with the intense wind chill it felt more like 3. I bundled up and went out anyway, because I'm just determined like that. Or stupid. Take your pick.

The drive out was nice, and I spotted a wild bald eagle on the way in, which is always cool no matter how many times you see them. We got into the park area and I had only taken a few bird shots when I realized I was out of batteries and had forgotten to take extras. Figures. So I drove back to Byron and found a gas station with batteries, and got back about 30 minutes later. The light had changed by that point and was pretty severe as the sun set, so a lot of these photos are unfortunately over-contrasty and full of yucky shadows. I'm planning to go back on Thursday to try for different lighting.

The Oxbow center keeps native species that are un-releasable for one reason or another, so many of the raptors for instance have severely broken wings or eye problems. It's really quite depressing--combined with the fact that all the enclosures are built with the same iron fencing, it just adds to the overall feeling of hopelessness. The whole time I was admiring the critters, I was wishing that I had seen them wild instead. Someday, I hope. They did have those elusive turkeys, though, which I was glad to photograph. They have these fantastic neck feathers that move all the time.

In spite of the depressing situation of some of the animals, I did find that the red foxes and the bobcat still had a strong personality (granted, it was a prissy arrogant personality, but it was still great) and were interested in watching me as well. Of course, with an outdoor park and in 20 degree weather, I was pretty much the only person there besides the center attendant. I was probably the most interesting thing that happened to them in several days. I got some pics of the bobcat and foxes that I hope to find a way to work into paintings of some sort.

They have a rather young cougar there, as far as I can tell. He was gorgeous, though. He already had his thick winter coat in and a huge ruffed neck, which I just love on a cougar. I have a thing for big cats, and it was fun to just stand there and stare with him staring back. He was pretty content to just lie on his ledge, but I must have shot every inch of him anyways. Big predators are severely over-painted and often kitchy, but I'd love to paint him anyway.

Oxbow isn't just the zoo center, it's also a large reserve of land for several miles with lots of hiking trails and the zumbro river running through most of it. It was getting darker (and colder) as I left, but I snagged a few shots of the river and a pretty cool frozen spring that I think are promising. I'll investigate more when I go back. I'll probably wear a face mask next time too, because I came away with some pretty nasty wind-burn and borderline-frostbite in my toes, which wasn't so pleasant. Different boots next time.

Sketchies in the next update!