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- Photo of the Week – May 16, 2013
- Join Us For The Platte River Prairies Field Day: July 12, 2013
- Keeping a Low Profile in the Spring
- Photo of the Week – May 9, 2013
- A Prickly Confrontation
- Photo of the Week – May 2, 2013
- Capturing Post-Wildfire Recovery Through Timelapse Photography
- A Dandy Little Predator
- A Prairie Ecologist’s Perspective on Arbor Day
- Photo of the Week – April 25, 2013
- Tuning Into Fire Frequency
- Photo of the Week – April 18, 2013
- The Annual Grassland Restoration Network Workshop – Coming to A Prairie Near You (If You’re Near Columbia, Missouri)
- A Weekend Walk in the Woods
- Photo of the Week – April 11, 2013
- An Ill Wind…
- Is Poison Hemlock Repelled By Plant Diversity? Early Results Say Yes
- Photo of the Week – April 5, 2013
- Why A Warming Climate Is Making This Spring So Cold (… and Last Spring So Warm)
- An Exciting New Discovery – Unless You’re a Bug
Tag Archives: butterfly
Regal Fritillary Butterflies in Burned and Grazed Prairie
We’ve been conducting field surveys of regal fritillary butterflies for the last three years. During that time, we’ve learned a lot about how those butterflies are responding our prairie management and restoration work. So far, there are two overwhelming lessons … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Insects, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged butterfly, cattle grazing, controlled burn, fire, fire and insects, fire impacts on insects, managing prairies, patch-burn grazing, prairie management, prescribed fire, production, rare butterflies, regal fritillary, response of butterflies to fire, tallgrass prairie, viola sororia
7 Comments
Intercontinental Insect Migration (!)
Insect migration is a world we’re just starting to discover, and the more we find, the more fascinating that world is. One of the most recent discoveries involves Painted Lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui), a species found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Insects, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography
Tagged butterfly, dragonfly, globe skimmer, insect migration, migrants, migrate, monarch, moth, painted lady, radar, vanessa cardui
8 Comments
Photo of the Week – September 6, 2012
Skippers are the sparrows of the butterfly world; lots of species, most of which are small, brown, and difficult to identify by amateur enthusiasts. They often are misidentified as moths, but a closer look reveals the straight antennae (not fuzzy like … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Insects, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography
Tagged butterfly, grassland, lepidoptera, photography, prairie, skipper
5 Comments
Photo of the Week – August 26, 2011
I photographed these butterflies (numerous photos below) last weekend at our family prairie. Besides being very pretty, they and the flowers they’re feeding provide an interesting insight into the way biologists sometimes see the world. Painted lady butterflies are very common and ubiquitous species … Continue reading
Butterflies on Noxious Weeds
As I mentioned in my last post, regal fritillaries are out in high numbers in our Platte River Prairies. We’re watching – among other things – what plant species they’re using for nectaring, and are interested to see if that … Continue reading
Butterfly Aggression
We started seeing our first regal fritillary butterflies of the season last week, and began our second year of data collection on their habitat use in the Platte River Prairies. As always, male fritillaries have emerged first and now have to … Continue reading