Kim and I have an annual tradition of spending time at the Niobrara Valley Preserve during Christmas break. This year, we were particularly excited to see a forecast of 10-14 inches of snow during our visit and we made sure to arrive before the snow. We hoped to get pleasantly snowed in for a few days and then catch a little sunshine for some good hiking and photography before we came back home. The snow was a little disappointing – only 4-5 inches – but the trip has been fantastic.
Ponderosa pine trees, Niobrara River, and a bald eagle flying through a snow storm.
Yesterday, I took a walk out into the blowing snow to stretch my legs and take a few photos. This morning, the snow and sky had lightened up quite a bit and I took the truck out to look for bison while Kim slept in a little. As I write this, the sun is coming out and it looks like a great day for an afternoon hike. I hope the rest of you are having as much fun as we are this week… Here are a few photos from the last couple days.
Wild rye and snow.A fence line in a snow storm.The neighbor’s cows got out and no one is around to catch them, so they’ve been hanging around in our “front yard” for a few days. They’ve been pleasant neighbors.The bison looked completely unfazed by subzero wind chills and light snow this morning.
This is the second half of my annual “best of” celebration of the past year’s photography and writing. If you missed Part 1, you can find it here. This post includes the remainder of my favorite photos from this year and links to some of the posts I’m most proud of from 2018. At the bottom, you’ll find a YouTube video that includes all of the photos from both Parts 1 and 2 of this “best of” series. Depending upon your internet speed, the sharpness of the images may or might not come through on that video…
Spider in early light – Platte River Prairies
As I’ve said many times, I’m sincerely grateful for all the people who follow this blog (more than 4,000 subscribers now!) and support prairie conservation in one way or another. Writing this blog keeps me energized and inquisitive about the world around me. People ask me if I ever have a hard time coming up with two posts a week and the honest answer is no. Well, rarely, at least. There’s always something new to discover in prairies, so I never tire of exploring them. Knowing that someone else cares about what I find makes it even more fun. Thank you.
Cattail seed on ice – Platte River PrairiesSnow and wetland – Helzer Family Prairie
I’ve been thinking a lot about ecological resilience and climate change in recent years. In general, I’m optimistic about the fate of prairies in the coming years – assuming we can keep people interested enough in them to actively manage them. I wrote a couple posts on the topic this year, including one on how the diversity of life in prairies provides redundancy and resilience and another on the “bench strength” of prairies in the face of climate change.
Sandhill cranes and fog – Platte River PrairiesIronweed leaf – Helzer Family Prairie
Two of my favorite natural history stories of the year included big populations of wildflowers. On the very last day of April, 2018, things were definitely going my way. I had planned almost a year earlier to photograph a large population of pasque flowers at the Niobara Valley Preserve and everything actually worked out just perfectly. The next day, I broke my ankle, which messed up much of my summer, but that’s another story… Later in the summer, (still in a boot) I discovered something new and sinister about Illinois tickclover.
Pasque flowers – Niobrara Valley PreserveSunset and Niobara River – Niobrara Valley Preserve
People frequently ask me for photography advice and I’m not always sure how to help. However, there is one point I think is important for people to understand, which is that your camera doesn’t see the world the way you do. I wrote about that this year, hoping that it would help others improve their photography skills. Somewhat related to that, I wrote about how the way we portray prescribed fire through photography can be important. We tend to show people images of big scary flames without including the appropriate context – namely that those flames usually come after a couple of laborious hours of work to prepare safe containment for that fire. I suggested we should be more cautious to present the full story and not just the scary images.
Fourpoint evening primrose and restored sand prairie – Platte River PrairiesDamselfly nymph – Platte River PrairiesCrab spider on hoary verbena – Helzer Family Prairie
To be really honest, I can’t come up with a theme that encompasses the last three posts I wanted to highlight, so I’ll just lump them awkwardly into this paragraph. I really enjoyed learning more about South African grasslands, and I plan to dig deeper into that subject in 2019. I finally got fed up with hearing ridiculous stories about “how bison used to graze in the old days” and wrote a response. And, one of my favorite posts of the year was one that readers wrote for me – the first annual (if I remember next year) Prairie Limerick Challenge!
Sideoats grama – Lincoln Creek PrairieBush katydid – Helzer Family PrairieStiff sunflower with highlights – Lincoln Creek PrairieInchworm – Lincoln Creek PrairieSkipper butterfly on ironweed – Helzer family prairieGoatsbeard seeds – Helzer Family PrairiePlant hopper on lead plant – Lincoln Creek PrairieBumblebee on stiff sunflower – Lincoln Creek PrairieGiant milkweed bug nymphs – Lincoln Creek PrairieWilting sunflower leaf – Lincoln Creek PrairieBison in late day light – Niobrara Valley PreserveCope’s gray tree frog – Helzer family prairieMonarch butterfly – Lincoln Creek PrairieButterfly milkweed seed and sky – Lincoln Creek PrairieBison calf in rain – Broken Kettle GrasslandsSmooth sumac leaves – Lincoln Creek PrairieLeaves in a stream – Niobrara Valley PreserveIce on wetland plants – Platte River Prairies
Here’s the YouTube video I mentioned earlier, which includes all of my favorite photos from 2018. As I said, the sharpness of the images might depend upon the speed of your internet connection. It’s about 4 minutes long.
Enjoy the rest of 2018, and I wish you all the best for 2019! Thanks again for supporting this little prairie blog.
The Prairie Ecologist 