Spring is slowly progressing. I helped the Platte River Prairies crew build some fence yesterday in 94 degree weather, which seemed incongruous with the continuing (relative) scarcity of flowers. Puccoons (Lithospermum spp) are blooming, along with ragworts (Senecio plattensis) and a few other species, but many others are still keeping their buds tightly closed. Hopefully, we’ll start seeing more color within the next few weeks. Most grassland breeding birds have finally returned, though we’re still awaiting the arrival of dickcissels.

I was out hiking this morning and the light was nice, but since the breeze made flower photography difficult, I resorted to wildlife photography. As I’ve mentioned many times before, I lack the patience to sit for hours in a photography blind in order to get good wildlife photos, and I don’t have a big telephoto lens. Instead, I rely on finding less wary (less smart?) individual animals that let me get close enough to take reasonably good photos of them.

This last photo is from a couple weeks ago. I was at our prairie, cutting down some locust trees and generally enjoying the day while a thunderstorm rolled past to the north. As the storm receded into the eastern sky, the trailing clouds made for some attractive landscape photo opportunities. Here is one of my favorites from that evening.