I’m one month into the 2024 version of my square meter prairie photography project. I can’t fully describe how much I’m enjoying it so far. Kim can attest to how often I’ve skipped across town to lie on the ground next to the little plot. She can also tell you how often I think about it when I’m not there.

Because of the burn this spring (April 19), there is a lot of bare ground in the plot. There were quite a few seedlings that germinated in that bare ground, though not all of them have survived as their existing neighbors start to form canopies above them. A few seedlings of perennials, including Maximilian sunflower and pitcher sage, have appeared, along with a couple annuals that I can’t yet identify.

As I did with my 2018 project, I’m trying to photograph as many prairie species as I can within the boundaries of the square meter. I’m also looking for beauty, though, making the project very different than a strict scientific study. I admire and photograph lead plant leaves with water droplets on them, for example, and look for color, light, and patterns.

The species inventory part of the project has gone astoundingly well so far. In 2018, I finished the year-long project with photographs of 113 plant and animal species. That felt pretty good, though I knew I’d missed a lot that had jumped, flown, or crawled away before I managed a sharp photo of them. As the project went along, I developed a better eye for finding small creatures and also realized how much diversity there was among groups like flies. By fall, I felt like I’d bypassed a lot of opportunities simply because I hadn’t spent enough time examining and trying to photograph a lot of the smaller creatures I’d seen.

This time around, I’m being careful to photograph just about tiny fly and other miniscule creature I spot. Much of the time, they turn out to be a different species than the little specks I’d photographed on previous visits. Because I’m paying better attention, my species count has rocketed up at a startling rate. I’ve only been working for a month and I’m already at about 80 different species!

Much of my success is due to experience and an intention to pay better attention to the really small creatures I see. The prescribed fire, though, is surely a big factor as well.. The bare ground provides both habitat for and opportunities to see creatures that I didn’t see in the thatchy habitat I watched in 2018. New camera gear is also helping. I can get good photos with less light than before and my Laowa 2x macro lens gives me better magnification for capturing minute leafhoppers and flies.

I think I’ve seen between 8 and 12 different leafhopper species, though I have very little idea what to look for as distinguishing features. I’m up to about 14 fly species, as well, though I have the same issues in telling species apart. If anyone out there is good with identification of leafhoppers or flies (or, really, any invertebrates) and wants to volunteer their help, I’d be very grateful!

I’ve already seen what I think are five different spider species. My grand total for all of 2018 was seven species. Because of the fire and early part of the season, the vegetation has been pretty sparse, which makes it both easier to spot and track the spiders as they move. I’ve watched several of them travel through the plot. One of them worked systematically up and down nearly every plant along its path as passed through. I don’t know if it was hunting or just exploring. Others have ballooned from plant to plant, either to travel through or, I think, because they were either starting a web or evaluating the possibilities of doing so.

In 2018, I was really surprised at how few grasshoppers and katydids I saw. I know bare ground and sun exposure can be important for at least many grasshopper species, so I figured the lack of fire might have helped explain their scarcity that year. This year has supported that hypothesis because I’ve seen quite a few little grasshopper nymphs (of two species, I think?) and have already gotten my first katydid photo.

Every single time I’ve visited the plot so far, I’ve come back with at least a handful of new species. Some I recognize, some I don’t. For the most part, I’m getting good at figuring out general categories to put things in – damsel bugs, weevils, moths – but I’ll still be relying on others to help me figure out species names. Or, if not species names, I hope people can at least help me determine how many species I have! I know this gets really tricky with species that go through incomplete metamorphosis (grasshoppers, for example) because the nymphs at different stages (instars) can look really different from each other, and it’s sometimes tough to know whether two insects are different species or just different instars of the same species.

All this has happened in the absence of any blooming wildflowers. The only flowers so far have been on the two sedge species (Carex brevior and Carex gravida). Kentucky bluegrass looks like it was set back enough by the fire that it won’t bloom this year. Other grasses and wildflowers either haven’t hit their blooming season yet or are also delayed by the fire. Those flowers will come, and lots of flower-visiting insects will come with them, but I’m really not missing them yet. That’s another big lesson I learned from 2018 – just because nothing is blooming doesn’t mean nothing’s happening!

Stay tuned! Part 2 of my May photos from this plot will include some fun stories, both about the species and my experiences watching and photographing them.

Can you tell I’m excited?

I can’t recommend this kind of project enough. Whether you’re a photographer or not, if you have a little area your home you can visit frequently, I strongly encourage you to consider doing that. Just sitting down and looking closely at the same spot for a few minutes will reveal hidden treasures. Visiting that same spot multiple times will reveal patterns and stories. I hope you find as much joy in your little plot as I find in mine.

This is going to be a long one, but I haven’t had a lot of time to write lately and am going to try to make up for lost time. To make this post more palatable, I’m splitting it into three acts. Act 1 includes a couple brief announcements. Act 2 is a series of photos from my trip to the Niobrara Valley Preserve this week. Act 3 is a fun game. You and pick and choose as you like.

Act 1: Announcements

Here are two big announcements. The first is a reminder, which is that we will be having a public field day at The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies on July 13, 2024. The day will start at 7:30am and run through about 2pm, but you can come and go as you like. We’ll have sessions on reptiles/amphibians, small mammals, prairie restoration, prairie ecology, bird and plant identification and much more. There is no cost for the field day. Please bring your own lunch and whatever you want to protect yourself from the sun and chiggers. Final details will be coming later.

Second, we are hiring a land steward for the Platte River Prairies. This person will be supervised by Preserve Manager Cody Miller and help with all aspects of our restoration and land stewardship work. Please spread the word. Interested applicants can learn more and apply at nature.org/careers.

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Act 2: NVP Photos

I spent a couple days at the Niobrara Valley Preserve this week. More and more wildflowers are starting to bloom, but most of them are the small and more scattered species. That just makes them extra fun to search for. Wildlife is very active, however, including more and more invertebrates. That’s good news for weirdos like me, who enjoy lying on the ground with a macro lens.

I say that, but many of my photos from the week ended up focusing on bison. For the most part, that happened only because I was looking for other photo subjects within the big east bison pasture at the Preserve. I photographed other things, but ended up near groups of bison as good lighting conditions developed. It was hard to keep my eyes on wildflowers and insects when big shaggy beasts were posing nearby.

This year’s calf coterie is growing fast. Most of the calves have probably been born now, though there are usually a few stragglers throughout the summer. There’s been a noticeable change in the protective behavior of the herd around those calves. When I was last at the Preserve, I had to be really cautious about my approach to keep the animals from gathering up the calves and running off. This time, as I approached in my vehicle, moms sprinted toward any calves that had strayed a little away from them, but once everyone was accounted for, the herd seemed to calm pretty quickly.

I thought about cutting down the number of calf photos I included below, but I know my audience…

I did manage to photograph something other than bison, though. Lots of grasses were flowering, including junegrass, needle-and-thread, green needlegrass, porcupine grass, Kentucky bluegrass, Scribner’s panicum, and others. Locoweed, prairie turnip, hairy puccoon, western wallflower, white penstemon, and shell leaf penstemon were a few of the wildflowers in bloom.

A few years ago, I wrote about some leaf galls on goldenrod plants that seemed to have little flowers growing from the galls. Upon further research (by which I mean I did an online search, not that I set up a scientific study), I found out that there’s a fascinating relationship between a midge and a fungus that combine to create galls that are safer for the midge larvae inside them. Apparently, a similar relationship occurs within the leaves of shell leaf fungus because I saw the same kind of fungal fruiting bodies growing on the colorful galls on penstemon leaves. Click here to read the goldenrod/midge/fungus gall story.

I spent time poking around a couple sand blowouts and photographing tracks. I found a lot of sharp-tailed grouse tracks, but my favorite photo ended up being one with beetle tracks heading uphill (I think?).

The public hiking trail was looking great, so I stopped by for a little while one morning. There were some big patches of western wallflower (Erysimum capitatum), as well as hairy puccoon (Lithospermum caroliniense) blooming along the trail, and the river was gorgeous in the early day light. We installed bathrooms at the trail head last year, along with some treat interpretative signage. If you’re in the area to float the river or for other reasons, and need to use the facilities, please feel free. You’re welcome to hike the trails, too.

I was able to photograph two snakes this trip, which was fun. The first was a hognose snake I found on the gravel road while I was driving. It didn’t feel like performing either of its two defensive strategies for me, but that was fine. I didn’t press.

The second snake was a bull snake we found while showing some guests around a burned portion of the bison pasture. Carson Schultz, our NVP stewardship manager, managed to grab the snake to show it to people up close. When he released it, I grabbed a few photos before we let it go about its business.

I also got to photograph a black-tailed jackrabbit that thought it was hiding from us as we drove our guests out to see some bison. It ran off, but not very far, and tried hide in a pretty insubstantial patch of cover.

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Act 3: The Game

I call this game “Sunrise or Sunset?”

It’s easy to play. I’ll show you a bunch of bison photos from the Niobrara Valley Preserve this week. Some were taken at sunrise. Others were taken at sunset. All you have to do is decide which are which. Easy, right? (Hint: the sun comes up in the east and sets in the west. Bonus hint: don’t take this game too seriously.)

I’ll give you the answer below each photo, so be careful where you look if you want to make serious guesses without having the answer spoiled ahead of time.

#1. This photo was clearly taken as the sun was going down. See how the bison’s tail is pointing downward? That’s a good clue. Also, I was facing west, which – as I told you already – is where the sun sets. Did you get this one right? If so – congratulations! If not, don’t worry, you’ll have more chances to apply what you’ve learned here.

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#2. This is a trick one because you can’t see the tails very well. However, clever observers will note that the bison is facing east, which means the sun behind it must be in the west. Thus, it’s a sunset photo! Also, all the bison have that ‘end of day’ energy as they graze. Bonus note: The young bison bull closest to the camera appears to be watering the grass. Clicking on the photo will give you a better view if that’s of interest to you. (If you’re reading this in an email, click on the title to open it online so you can click on photos.)

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#3. Ok, this is a tricky one. The tail is down, which might make you think sunset, but notice that the bull is grazing uphill as it’s silhouetted against the sun in the eastern sky. The combination of all those factors tips the balance toward a sunrise photo, which it is. Don’t feel bad if you got this one wrong. The next one will be easier.

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#4. See? This one’s easy – mostly because it’s the same bison as in the earlier photo, which we already determined was a sunrise shot. Also, notice how some of the sand being thrown up by the wallowing bull is kind of clumped together? That’s a likely indicator of some early morning dew/moisture in the sand.

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#5. If you were just guessing at these, you might guess sunset on this one because the last two were sunrise photos and it would be pretty wild to have three sunrise photos in a row. However, if you did that, you’d be wrong. This is another sunrise photo. Yes, I know the tails are down, but the bison are grazing uphill again, so you have to balance those two factors. Also, the sun is in the east, which pretty much seals the deal.

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#6. Surely, I wouldn’t put yet another sunrise photo here? Correct! This is a sunset photo, as you can tell from the fact that the sun is in the west. Also, the bison in the foreground has obviously had a long day and is looking forward to a break from the hot sun.

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Important disclaimer: Whether a bison’s tail is up or down doesn’t really have anything to do with sunrises or sunsets. I was just pulling your leg. A tail up in the air usually means a bison is either relieving itself or feeling like stomping you into the ground. It’s a good idea not to take any chances that it’s the former. Stay safe out there. Also, bison will graze uphill or downhill whenever they feel like it, no matter what people tell you. What you can take to the bank, though, is that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. That’s just facts.