Clik here to view.
2017 Field Days! (And a Photo Question)
Mark your calendars if you’re interested in attending either or both of our Platte River Prairies Field Days this summer. The first will be on Thursday July 6, and will be focused on plant...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo of the Week – May 19, 2017
Over the last five years or so, I’ve been learning a lot more about pollinators, and that has changed the way I look at prairies. As I walk around our prairies, I often think about how I would see the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo of the Week – May 26, 2017
Shell leaf penstemon (Penstemon grandiflorus) is one of the showier wildflowers in the Platte River Prairies during late May and early June. It is most often found in dry soils and where the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo of the Week – June 2, 2017
I’m just back home from a week of outdoor family vacation, so apologies for another brief post. Earlier this week, while I was crouched low to the ground photographing a flower, I noticed a little...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo of the Week – June 8, 2017
In several of our prairies right now, poppy mallows are among the most prolific flowers. Purple poppy mallow (Callirhoe involucrata) and pale pink poppy mallow (Callirhoe alcoides) are not only great...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Child Care Can Be a Burden
I’m up at the Niobrara Valley Preserve this week. While collecting data today, we spotted a brood of sharp-tailed grouse, a couple other baby birds, and a whole bunch of cute red bison calves. I got...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo of the Week – June 15, 2017
Earlier this week, I posted a photo of a female wolf spider carrying her brood on her back. We were collecting data at the Niobrara Valley Preserve this week, and it seemed there were babies all over...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s a WHAT??
We are doing an intensive week of data collection at the Niobrara Valley Preserve this week. Yesterday, while I was leaning over to look at something, an insect landed on my clipboard. It looked like...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Swarms, Squadrons, and Skies
(See the note at the end of this post about our free Plant Identification workshop this Thursday – July 6, 2017) Last week, my wife and I were both at the Niobrara Valley Preserve, working with other...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo of the Week – July 6, 2017
When photographing invertebrates, I can split most critters into two categories: those that hunker down and those that flee. Those that hunker down are awfully nice because I can set up and photograph...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Spider Watching
I think this is a juvenile Argiope spider. With its legs fully spread, it was about the diameter of a quarter, and its web was about the size of my hand. During a brief stop at our family’s prairie...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Prairie Noise
I just finished a great but very long day at the Niobrara Valley Preserve. We were collecting sweep net data and counting flowering plants to evaluate the impacts of various fire and grazing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo of the Week – July 20, 2017
Wow, this was a hot week. About the time I stopped hiking hills and collecting data at the Niobrara Valley Preserve yesterday, my truck’s thermometer said it was 111 degrees Fahrenheit. Sure, it was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo of the Week – July 28, 2017
My daughter and I are on a short working vacation in the Nebraska Sandhills this week, so I don’t have much time to write. Instead, here are two of my favorite photos from my trip to the Niobrara...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Popular Sunflowers
Plains sunflower (Helianthus petiolaris) is an annual plant that responds quickly to bare ground in the Nebraska Sandhills. They pop up after fire, intensive grazing, pocket gopher activity or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Miscellaneous Sightings
One of the best perks of my job is simply that I get to be outside enough to see a lot of interesting ecological phenomena. Today, I thought I’d share a few vignettes from the last couple weeks....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Well, Now, I Wonder…
People often seem surprised to learn that I’m an introvert – probably because in large groups, I feel pretty comfortable being the center of attention and talking to an interested audience. However,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo of the Week – September 7, 2017
The numerous wildfires in the western U.S. and Canada have been sending smoke out our way, especially earlier this week. I got up early Monday morning to catch the sunrise, hoping a smoky haze would...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Painted Lady Butterfly: This Year’s Poster Child for Insect Migration
Note: this post was slightly edited after initial publication to make it more accurate. Migrating painted lady butterflies are stealing some of the attention from the annual monarch butterfly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo of the Week – September 22, 2017
The Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) is an impressive creature. Introduced to North America, it has certainly made itself at home here. Entomologists I’ve talked to express varying levels of...
View Article