When I was at the Niobrara Valley Preserve in late June, I did some macro photography, in addition to the sunset photo I showed last week. Here are four photos from that trip.
Purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia) is in the loamier soil along the edges of the river bluffs, but doesn’t seem to stray out into the sandhills to the south.
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This grasshopper didn’t really my lens pointing at it, but wasn’t quite nervous enough to jump away.
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If I didn’t know leadplant (Amorpha canescens) was a legume, I’d never guess by looking at the flowers. Leadplant is one of the most common wildflowers in sandhills prairie.
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I think I keep seeing this caterpillar species (salt marsh caterpillar?) at different sites. It must be pretty common – or maybe it just doesn’t hide well. Alternatively, I’m mistakenly calling different species the same thing… Regardless, I enjoy taking portraits of it.
The Prairie Ecologist 
Absolutely loved the close ups! Who knew they could be so amazing? Thanks for sharing.
Macro shots are my favorites. That caterpillar is delightfully bejeweled.
Beautiful. I love the grasshopper apparently peeking shyly over the leaf edge.
For very weird legume flowers, see those of Gymnocladus dioica, nicely depicted here: http://www.friendsofeloisebutler.org/pages/plants/kentuckycoffee.html.
very nice photos! we love the coneflowers. Would you be able to tell us what small blue butterflies would be around cedar trees in Hamilton County? A friend has a couple on film, would like to send to you to ID, how do we send pictures to you?
Thanks Chris and give a warm Nebraska welcome to the 2 new Fellows!
Patricia Mettenbrink
Grand Island