My family and I have driven around the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge on several occasions. We’ve seen buffalo, prairie dogs and Longhorn cattle up close. For Christmas, Terry surprised me with a zoom lens for my Nikon camera! (I had planned to save up for it, so getting it at Christmas was a true delight!) I couldn’t wait to find something far away to photograph so I could see how it performed. On our anniversary, which was January 2nd, I got the opportunity to experiment when Terry and I went to the Wildlife Refuge.  Here are some of the pictures I took:

A duck taking off!

I just liked these bare branches stretching out across the water.

This Longhorn was really close!

Some of my photos were a bit washed out. I warmed this one up with my editing program.

I caught this calf mid-jump! 🙂

I was able to get very close to the prairie dogs! (And there must be hundreds out there!)

I’m sure this little turret has a name, but I don’t know it. I thought it was rather medieval-looking!

The sun on glass…I mean, water.

Since I took these in winter, there wasn’t a lot happening with the animals. I didn’t see a single buffalo! And, one reason my photos were washed out, was because there was no color out there, unless you count various shades of brown. Still, there was an interesting beauty to the bare-boned trees and pale grasses. They are resting, waiting to burst forth with color in just a few short weeks. I hope to be there to capture some of that beauty, too.

Thanks for reading.