The Beauty of Prairies in 2020 – June

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Keeping things rolling here. Thanks again for voting on your favorite images from this year. Please keep that up, if you don’t mind – I love finding out which pictures most resonate with you. Just put the numbers of your choices in the comments section. Here are the June 2020 selections. Interestingly, it’s heavy on creatures. Spiders, bees, toads, a snake, and more. Enjoy the rest of your week!

1.) Backlit cup plant leaf. Lincoln Creek Prairie, Aurora Nebraska. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/25, 1/80 sec.
2.) Silhouetted spider on common milkweed leaf. Lincoln Creek Prairie, Aurora, Nebraska. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/20, 1/80 sec.
3.) Woodhouse’s toad nestled into a hollow in the west sand of a Platte River sandbar. Platte River Prairies, Nebraska. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 10.5mm fish eye lens. ISO 320, f/18, 1/200 sec.
4.) Woodhouse’s toad in a shallow pool on a Platte River Sandbar. Platte River Prairies, Nebraska. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/13, 1/200 sec.
5.) A two-spotted long-horned bee (I think) in the Helzer backyard prairie. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 200, f/10, 1/200 sec.
6.) Black-eyed Susan, sensitive briar, and other wildflowers at the Helzer Family Prairie near Stockham, Nebraska. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 10.5mm fish eye lens. ISO 200, f/16, 1/125 sec.
7.) Crab spider on Carolina horsenettle. Helzer Family Prairie near Stockham, Nebraska. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 200, f/16, 1/80 sec.
8.) Female halictid bee on black-eyed Susan flower. Helzer Family Prairie, near Stockham, Nebraska. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 200, f/16, 1/160 sec.
9.) Pure gold-green sweat bee (native solitary bee) on sensitive briar. Helzer Family Prairie near Stockham, Nebraska. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 200, f/13, 1/500 sec.
10.) Goatsbeard, aka salsify, at the Helzer Family Prairie near Stockham, Nebraska. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 200, f/13, 1/400 sec.
11.) False sunflower with aberrant disk florets. Helzer Backyard Prairie. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 200, f/13, 1/100 sec.
12.) Eastern hognose snake trying to intimidate me. Niobrara Valley Preserve. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 28-300mm macro lens @300mm. ISO 250, f/10, 1/1250 sec.
13.) Eastern hognose snake playing dead after it decided it couldn’t intimidate me. Niobrara Valley Preserve. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 250, f/11, 1/320 sec.
14.) Sandhills prairie. Niobrara Valley Preserve. Nikon D7200 with Tokina 12-28mm macro lens @12mm. ISO 320, f/9, 1/800 sec.
15.) Twelve-spotted skimmer dragonfly. Niobrara Valley Preserve. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/9, 1/125 sec.
16.) Big female wolf spider. Niobrara Valley Preserve. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/14, 1/60 sec.
17.) Cuckoo bee roosting by hanging on with its mandibles to its perch. Gjerloff Prairie (Prairie Plains Resource Institute). Nikon D7200 with Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/14, 1/125 sec.

The Beauty of Prairies in 2020 – May

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Here’s the third installment of prairie photos from 2020. I’m finding the process of revisiting the photos I took this year to be energizing, and I hope you get something positive from it as well. Amongst the stress and anxiety created by the year’s events, reminding myself how much beauty and life there is in the world is really helpful. Exploring or viewing images of nature doesn’t reduce the amount of work to be done or fix the big issues we face, but it provides a refuge I can use to recharge before engaging with those challenges again.

As a quick reminder, I’m posting some of my favorite prairie photos from 2020 and asking for your help in selecting the ones I’ll use for a project that I hope will both celebrate prairies and share the aforementioned solace with as many people as possible. Today, I’m sharing photos from May. You can vote on your favorites by sharing the photo numbers you like best in the comments section of this post. I’ve remembered this time (I don’t always) to set up the photos so you can click on each of them to see a larger version, if you want.

Thanks to everyone who voted on the March/April photos from last week. The top vote getter – by far – was the backlit pasqueflower scene from the Niobrara Valley Preserve. I’m glad people like it. I waited a long time that day for the sun to finally pop out just long enough to get that shot. The other photos receiving high numbers of votes, in order of popularity, were #’s 10, 2, 6, 16, 6, 11, and 12.

1.) Small male carpenter bee (Ceratina) probably waiting for a female to return to her nest in the hollow step of an ironweed plant (Vernonia baldwinii). Helzer backyard prairie garden. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 150mm macro lens. ISO 400, f/13, 1/500 sec.
2.) Fringed puccoon (Lithospermum incisum) in late day light. Helzer family prairie. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 150mm macro lens. ISO 400, f/11, 1/1000 sec.
3.) Ground plum, aka buffalo pea (Astragalus crassicarpus). Helzer family prairie. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 10.5mm fish eye lens. ISO 400, f/11, 1/160 sec.
4.) Woolly locoweed (Oxytropis lambertii) at Gjerloff Prairie (Prairie Plains Resource Institute). Nikon D7200 with Nikon 10.5mm fish eye. ISO 640, f/22, 1/200 sec.
5.) Buffalo currant (Ribes odorata). Helzer backyard. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 150mm macro lens. ISO 640, f/18, 1/400 sec.
6.) Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta) at Gjerloff Prairie (Prairie Plains Resource Institute). Nikon D7200 with Tokina 12-28mm wide angle lens. ISO 640, f/22, 1/160 sec.
7.) Showy vetchling (Lathyrus polymorphus) at Gjerloff Prairie (Prairie Plains Resource Institute). Nikon D7200 with Nikon 150mm macro lens. ISO 640, f/10, 1/1250 sec.
8.) Spiderwort (Tradescantia) leaf and water droplets. Helzer prairie garden. (Shadows in background went black because of contrast between brightness of leaf and darkness of shadows.) Nikon D7200 with Nikon 150mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/16, 1/160 sec.
9.) Crab spider spiderling and dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). Helzer family prairie. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 150mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/10, 1/320 sec.
10.) Harvestman, aka daddy longlegs. Helzer prairie garden. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 150mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/13, 1/200 sec.
11.) Seed head of pasqueflower (Pulsatilla patens). Niobrara Valley Preserve. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 150mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/14, 1/320 sec.
12.) Prairie spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentale) in sand blowout. Niobrara Valley Preserve. Nikon D7200 with Tokina 12-28mm wide angle lens. ISO 320, f/16, 1/400 sec.
13.) Tent caterpillars. Niobrara Valley Preserve. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 150mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/18, 1/100 sec.
14.) Sandhills prairie and trail road. Niobrara Valley Preserve. Nikon D7200 with Tokina 12-28mm lens. ISO 320, f/14, 1/500 sec.
15.) Katydid nymph on blue-eyed grass (Sisyrhinchium campestre). Helzer family prairie. Nikon D7200 with Nikon 150mm macro lens. ISO 640, f/13, 1/1000 sec.

I’m really grateful for the feedback on these photos. I know which are my personal favorites, and that won’t change because of votes from others, but it’s also helpful to see which images most resonate with others. If I’m going to try to convince the larger public that prairies are special, valuable, and full of beauty, I want to use the photos most likely to capture their interest. So, thank you for your help.