Category Archives: Prairie Photography

Photo of the Week – March 11, 2016

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In some ways, this is a great time of year in the Platte River Prairies – we’re gearing up for prescribed fire, and clouds of migratory sandhill cranes provide background music as we prepare our prairies for the coming field season.  At the same time, the beautiful weather over the last couple of weeks has me yearning for wildflowers, and I know it’s going to be a while before we start seeing them.  The daffodils in my yard help a little, as do the little tiny blue flowers on whatever weed it is that grows along the edge of my foundation and sidewalk.  But I miss prairie wildflowers, and we’re at least a month away from the first of those.  Temperatures in the 70’s make it feel like there should be wildflowers blooming, but no matter how long I walk through the brown grass, I still don’t see any.

Stiff sunflower (Helianthus pauciflorus) in The Nature Conservancy's Platte River Prairies back in August 2015.

Stiff sunflower (Helianthus pauciflorus) in The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies back in August 2015.

So, I found comfort and joy by flipping through photos from last summer and looking at all the bold vibrant colors.  Here’s one of the images that hit me hardest as I scanned through those summer images.  Happy Spring!  (And hurry up, wildflowers!)

Photo of the Week – March 4, 2016

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Last summer in Minnesota, I saw my all-time favorite insect for only the third time ever.  The camouflaged looper is a tiny inchworm that disguises itself with bits of the flower it is feeding on.  It is a fairly widespread species, and probably pretty common, but it’s rarely seen because it’s so well camouflaged.  I’ve written in more detail about this species in a previous post if you’re interested.

While I was excited to see the inchworm, I have to admit I was also a little disappointed.  In the inchworm.  I mean, really.  This species is usually so well camouflaged that it blends almost perfectly with the flower it is feeding on.  This one stood out like a sore thumb.

The camourfl

A camouflaged looper on a purple coneflower at The Nature Conservancy’s Bluestem Prairie in western Minnesota.  The head is at the top left…  You can see bits of (I think) two different flowers stuck to its back in this picture.

I’m going to give my favorite insect the benefit of the doubt and assume it was in the middle of a costume change when I saw it.  It looked like it had just started to pick up pieces of the purple coneflower it was feeding on, and still had some pieces of some other flower stuck to its back.  I’m sure it was in the process of shedding those other flower pieces and replacing them with coneflower parts.  But still – it was pretty glaringly obvious as a light-colored critter sitting on top of a dark-colored flower head.  It was awfully lucky I was just a nerdy photographer and not a hungry bird