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- Photo of the Week – June 14, 2013
- Difficult Decisions – Growing Season Fires and Other Prairie Management Choices
- Photo of the Week – June 7, 2013
- Ragwort – Prettier (and More Valuable) than its Name Might Suggest
- Photo of the Week – May 31, 2013
- Wildfire Recovery at The Niobrara Valley Preserve – Spring Green Up
- Photo of the Week – May 23, 2013
- Blowing Against the Wind?
- 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
Tag Archives: regal fritillary
Lessons From a Project to Improve Prairie Quality – Part 1: Patch-Burn Grazing, Plant Diversity, and Butterflies
We recently completed a large multi-year restoration and management project at our Platte River Prairies. Our specific objectives were to improve habitat quality for various at-risk prairie species and evaluate the impacts of our management on at-risk butterflies – particularly … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Animals, Prairie Insects, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Plants, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged at-risk species, burning, butterflies, conservation, conservation grazing, conservative plants, fire, floristic quality, grassland, grassland management, grazing, grazing impacts on prairie, grazing prairie, habitat quality, land management, lessons learned, nebraska, patch-burn grazing, platte river, platte river prairies, pollinators, prairie, prairie management, prairie restoration, prescribed fire, regal fritillary, research, state wildlife grant, stewardship, the nature conservancy
13 Comments
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
A Soldier Beetle Occupation
Everywhere I look, I see soldier beetles. They’re in my yard, they’re in my prairies, and now I think they’re getting into my head (figuratively speaking). The linden tree in our front yard is blooming this week, and every flower is loaded … Continue reading
Regal Fritillary Butterflies in the Platte River Prairies – 2011
We completed our second season of regal fritillary butterfly data collection this summer. Funded by State Wildlife Grant funds from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, our surveys are designed to help us better understand how this butterfly species is … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Insects, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Plants, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged abundance, blue violet, grassland, habitat, life history, nebraska, platte river, prairie, prairie reconstruction, prairie restoration, regal fritillary, the nature conservancy, viola pratincola
20 Comments
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
The Importance of Weedy Flowers for Butterflies
In our Platte River Prairies, regal fritillaries and other butterflies appear to depend heavily on a few weedy wildflower species as nectar plants. I was in graduate school when I first started learning to identify butterflies. I participated in several … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Insects, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Plants, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged butterflies, conservation, grassland, hoary vervain, insects, nectar, prairie, regal fritillary, thistles, verbena stricta, weeds, weedy flowers
16 Comments
