Every visit to a prairie is different – partially because the prairie is always changing, and partially because I focus on different aspects or species each time. This week, I was near Griffith Prairie (owned and managed by my friends at Prairie Plains Resource Institute) when the light coming through the diffused clouds was too much to resist. I popped over to see what was going on in the grassland…
A stink bug on coralberry (aka buckbrush or Symphoricarpus orbiculatus). Griffith Prairie – Nebraska.
On this particular day, wildflowers were blooming all over the place, but what kept catching my eye were stink bugs. I don’t know if they were particularly abundant or if I was just paying attention enough to notice how many there were. Either way, I seemed to see stink bugs on just about every plant species I looked at. They weren’t all the same kind of stink bug, but I don’t know enough about them to tell for sure how many species I was seeing.
Here are three more photos from that same day.
A stink bug on wavy-leaf thistle (Cirsium undulatum).
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… and a stink bug on leadplant (Amorpha canescens)…
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… and one more, on grass this time.
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The Prairie Ecologist 
Great post, who knew that stinkbugs could be the stars of art photography, great job, thanks MJ
Love the, “Stink Bug On Grass” photo:) Just hang on!
Hi Chris! I am sure you are aware of this critter ( http://njaes.rutgers.edu/stinkbug/identify.asp ). From the photos I am pretty sure that none of them fit the description, but it would be good to have one in hand (so to speak). As always, really enjoy your posts – especially your monitoring of the post fire recovery along the Niobrara.
Best to you and yours,
Paul Brewer, Illinois DNR
Thanks Paul, I’ve heard of them, but haven’t seen any around here that I know of. I’m ok with that…
Chris, your photography is great. I ran across your blog when I was looking up information on boxelder bugs. I look forward to continued reading and wonderful pictures