Photo of the Week – June 8, 2017

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In several of our prairies right now, poppy mallows are among the most prolific flowers.  Purple poppy mallow (Callirhoe involucrata) and pale pink poppy mallow (Callirhoe alcoides) are not only great tongue twisters, but also pretty flowers and important food sources for pollinators.  Earlier this week, I watched a monarch moving from flower to flower in a big patch of pale pink poppy mallow, but I didn’t manage to get a picture of it.  Yesterday, I paused to photograph a poppy mallow blossom and noticed something funny about the underside of the flower…

Those of you who have followed the blog for a while know of my affinity for crab spiders.  They’re just so stinking cute, and once you start looking for them, they are everywhere, especially on flowers.

This particular long-legged friend and his relatives were on several kinds of flowers in our prairies this week, including pale pink poppy mallow (above) and yarrow (below).

At our family prairie, I found a different crab spider (below) hanging out on yarrow with its long front legs cocked and ready to spring shut on unsuspecting prey.

As I photographed the spider, a fly landed on the flower and started feeding on pollen and moving about the flower.

It got closer and closer to the spider, so I just kept shooting.  A few moments later, it turned its back on the spider…

…and the spider GRABBED it.  The fly buzzed loudly and drug the spider around a little, but was no match for the strong grip and venomous bite.

For a few seconds, the spider stood vertically, holding tight to the fly.  Then as the fly’s struggles subsided, the crab spider repositioned itself to start feeding.

Apparently, the spot right behind the head is the best place to puncture a fly if you want to suck out its liquefied insides.  A little tip for all you fly sucker wannabes out there…

Seeing the number of flowers with crab spiders, and the ease with which this crab spider caught its prey is a reminder of how dangerous it is to be a pollinator.  Every flower is a potential source of nutritious food, but a fair number of them also host lurking crab spiders, waiting to snag careless insects.  As someone who spends a lot of time trying to photograph pollinators, I’m keenly aware of how quickly they move from flower to flower.  Of course they do – the longer they stick around each flower, the better chance something will catch and eat them!

Surprising Little Gems

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Last week, I had a couple hours to do some reconnaissance at the Niobrara Valley Preserve.  I wanted to see how far along the flowering plant season was in preparation for some data collection efforts we hope to start soon.  It was a hot afternoon, and it was nice to be riding an ATV so I could create my own breeze.  At one point, I parked the ATV and took a short walk down into a valley filled with sumac.  When I came back, something caught my eye as I was swinging my leg onto the ATV.  When I checked out the small flash of magenta, I found this:

Pincushion cactus (Escobaria vivipara, aka Coryphantha vivipara)

Wow.  A gorgeous little plant!  I’d photographed the same species at the Niobrara Valley Preserve a dozen or more years ago, but hadn’t seen one since.  Since this was the second pincushion cactus I’d seen despite many many trips to the Preserve, I figured it must be a fairly uncommon plant.  I pulled out my diffuser (thin fabric stretched across a flexible frame) to soften the harsh mid afternoon sunlight and photographed it.  Then I drove away, feeling fortunate and happy.

…and then I saw another cactus about two minutes later.  This one had THREE flowers, so of course I had to photograph it!  What a lucky day – no pincushion cactus sightings for twelve years or more and now TWO in TWO minutes!  Despite the heat, I was in a great mood when I started driving again.

Then I saw another one.  And another.  During my two hour drive, I saw at least a dozen blooming cacti, all vibrant and spectacular.  They were like little sparkling jewels embedded in the prairie.  I even found a couple of them blooming within the portion of the big bison pasture that was burned in March this year.  The prickly pear cacti in that same burned area was shriveled from the fire and (based on previous experience) going to have to regrow from their bases.  I don’t know why the pincushion cactus seemed unaffected; maybe because it sits so low to the ground.  Or maybe I just found the lucky ones that ended up in less intense heat.

My dad has this species of pincushion cactus in his garden and says they only bloom for a few days each year.  I guess that’s why I’ve seen them so infrequently.  I’m sure I’ve walked past them many times without noticing them.  The cactus barrels I saw last week were the size of a tennis ball or smaller, and they sit right on the surface of the ground, so it’s easy to see how I’d miss them without the bright magenta spotlights shining at me.  I just happened to be in the right place at the right time last week.

…I kind of feel like my career has been a long series of being in the right place at the right time.  I’m immensely grateful for every one of those opportunities.