Author Archives: Chris Helzer

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About Chris Helzer

Chris Helzer is Director of Science and Stewardship for The Nature Conservancy in Nebraska, where he conducts research and supervises the Conservancy’s preserve stewardship program. He also helps develop, test, and share prairie management and restoration strategies. Chris is also dedicated to raising awareness about the value of prairies through his photography, writing and presentations. He is the author of The Prairie Ecologist blog, and two books: The Ecology and Management of Prairies and Hidden Prairie: Photographing Life in One Square Meter. He is also a frequent contributor to NEBRASKAland magazine and other publications. Chris and his family live in Aurora, Nebraska.

Photo of the Week – February 27, 2014

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For a nature photographer like me, Nebraska winters can get pretty long.  Especially winters like this one with very little snow.  How many photos of brown grass and dried flowers can I take, after all?  I don’t have the equipment or patience to photograph wildlife very well, so I’m kind of stuck with landscapes and close-up photos.

Well, a guy’s gotta photograph something…  While I was visiting my in-laws in Sarpy County, Nebraska (south of Omaha) last weekend, I decided to challenge myself to find something interesting to photograph within the small restored prairies on their property.  I guess you’ll have to judge whether or not I was successful.

Indiangrass. Weiss Acres - Sarpy County, Nebraska.

Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans).  Weiss Acres – Sarpy County, Nebraska.

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A false sunflower seed head is backlit by the setting sun.

A false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) seed head is backlit by the setting sun.

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The double helix pattern of an open partridge pea seed pod.

The double helix pattern of an open partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculate) seed pod.

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Another false sunflower seed head.

Another false sunflower seed head…

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Another (yawn) sunflower seed head. This time it's Maximilian sunflower. The light was kind of interesting, though.

Another (yawn) sunflower seed head. This time it’s Maximilian sunflower. What can I say?  The light was kind of interesting.

So, there you go.  Now, how about a little snow?  Or some nice hoar frost?  Ice storm??

Spring is coming soon, right?

Sigh.

Hubbard Fellowship Blog – Mystery Tracks in the Snow

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This is a guest blog by Eliza Perry, one of our Hubbard Fellows.  All photos are by Eliza.

Last week I needed to check the fences around one of our properties. I only needed to walk a quarter of it to see that we had a lot of work to do.

During my travels, I found two mysterious tracks that I hope you all can help me identify. I stumped even Chris! (YES)

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See those weird claw-like marks? There were only these three sets of them, and they
were next to a bunch of small, amorphous tracks.  The tracks were bigger than cat tracks and smaller than dog tracks.

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Here’s a closer shot.

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The next mystery was this long trail. Chris suggested it was a collapsed vole tunnel,
but it is linear and vole tunnels seem to fork into many different smaller
tunnels. To me, it looked like something was dragging its belly, like a snake.

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Here’s it is a little closer, at a point that does look like a collapsed tunnel. But the rest of it was just an indentation on the snow.

Do you have any ideas?