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Ants in the Sun
A couple weeks ago, I was broadcasting seeds across a prairie we’d recently burned. The sun had just popped out after several days of cool rainy weather, and its warmth felt pretty good. As I...
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Life on a Weedy Plant
Daisy fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) is considered by many people to be a weed. It’s a biennial with very pretty, albeit small, daisy-like flowers that flourishes when the dominant plants around it...
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Next Platte River Prairies Field Day – June 26, 2015
Hikers enjoying the prairie during one of last year’s Field Days. We’ve finalized the agenda for our next Platte River Prairies Field Day, which will be June 26, 2015. I hope to see many of you there....
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Photo of the Week – June 19, 2015
I’ve been on a family vacation to the Corpus Christi, Texas area this week. It’s been a great week, with pleasant weather and lots of beach exploration. I’ll have more photos to share next week, but...
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My Little Buddy
What would you do if a big hairy bug landed on your hand? Smash it? Flick it off? Hop and and down, flail your arms, and make loud high pitched noises? Well, you COULD do one of those things. OR,...
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Photo of the Week – July 9, 2015
Upright yellow coneflower (Ratibida columnifera), aka Mexican hat, is blooming all over the Platte River Prairies right now. As with most showy flowers, the coneflowers are crawling with insects of...
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If You Were a Bee…
During the past two Mondays, I had the opportunity to help out with Prairie Plains Resource Institute’s Summer Orientation About Rivers (SOAR) program. It’s the best summer day camp I’ve ever been...
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Photo of the Week – July 16, 2015
Scaly blazingstar (Liatris squarrosa) is just starting to bloom in the Platte River Prairies. It has beautiful and intricate flowers with very long anthers protruding from its tiny blossoms. At least...
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Photo of the Week – July 23, 2015
As I mentioned in my last post, we spent much of this week up in beautiful northwestern Minnesota, at the annual Grassland Restoration Network workshop. In fact, I’m writing this as we travel back...
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Photo of the Week – July 30, 2015
During our trip to the Grassland Restoration Network workshop in Minnesota last week, several of us got up early enough to catch sunrise at The Nature Conservancy’s Bluestem Prairie on two beautiful...
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Photo of the Week – August 13, 2015
Nebraska has 108 species of grasshoppers. They come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, and generally speaking, the further west you go in the state, the more species you can find. While...
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Killer Thistles
Two years ago, I posted some photos of ants and other insects that had died on the sticky lower portion of thistle flowers. At the time, I speculated about whether or not the sticky bracts below the...
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Photo of the Week – August 21, 2015
How could you look at this spider and not think it’s cute? This beautiful jumping spider was in my background last weekend. I cajoled it onto a piece of cypress mulch and took its portrait. The crazy...
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The Gluttonous Crab Spider
The following post was written by Evan Barrientos, of our two Hubbard Fellows for this year. Evan is a talented writer and photographer, and if you enjoy this post, I encourage you to check out his...
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Saving Pollinators One Thistle at a Time
Pollinator populations are in trouble for a lot of reasons. Loss and degradation of habitat, pesticides, and diseases are all major contributors. However, at least in the Central United States, much...
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Antlion Timelapse
Three years ago, I wrote a blog post on antlions, fantastic little creatures that live along the base of my house (and elsewhere in the world, I’m sure). I moved to a new house last year, and was...
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Photo of the Week – September 3, 2015
Recently, we’ve been seeing some very pretty sunrises and sunsets (and moon rises, for that matter) because of a thin veil of smoke in the sky from the western U.S. wildfires. That diffused light...
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Photo of the Week – September 10, 2015
A few weeks ago, I took my camera across town for a walk in a small local prairie. There were numerous flowers blooming, but the stiff sunflowers (Helianthus pauciflorus) were stealing the show. I...
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Hubbard Fellowship Blog – Mummy Wasp!
The following post was written by Evan Barrientos, of our two Hubbard Fellows for this year. Evan is a talented writer and photographer, and while you’ll get the chance to see some of his work here...
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How did everything work this year?
This is one of my favorite times of year. It’s not the cool temperatures, the fall colors, or even the fall migrations of birds and insects coming through. Instead, I like this time of year because...
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