Perspectives of the Prairie: Neil Dankert

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Hi everyone.  The following blog post is written by 2024 Hubbard Fellow Claire Morrical.  Claire put together a fantastic series of interviews with people working in conservation here in Nebraska and we thought you’d enjoy reading and listening to their stories. 

This post also contains audio clips. You can find the text from this blog post with audio transcripts HERE. If you’re reading this post in your email and the audio clips don’t work, click on the title of the post to open it online.

Every year, Hubbard Fellows are tasked with completing a project to advance TNC’s mission and conservation in Nebraska. That’s it. That’s the rubric. This is a rare opportunity to explore whatever method, medium, or idea you want. Past projects included research projects, plans for a trail kiosk, and even a comic book about the Platte River.

My project originated with a lifelong friend, an oral historian who interviews people to preserve their experiences and perspectives of the histories they’ve lived through. Hearing how valuable those stories were to understanding the past made me want to create my own collection of interviews. I originally planned to follow more traditional oral history practices, creating an archive of two-hour unedited interviews intended to capture 30 years of experience of people I’d never met. When I presented this approach to Chris, he asked me, “Who’s your audience?” Which was a very kind way of saying, “Who the heck is going to listen to that?” – I had some refining to do.

The great thing about working on one project for a full year is that it gets to develop organically. As I molded the project to fit a public audience, I eventually created “Perspectives of the Prairie” – interviews with people of different ages and experiences, enriched with photos and maps to ground the stories in place.

Spending the year with this project was such a joy. I enjoyed experimenting with ways to deliver context and information. Most of all, I loved talking to people, getting to know them better, and trying to see the landscape through their eyes. The more people I met, the more I thought, “Man! I really want to interview them!” It was so fun to chat with so many people, and I hope you’ll enjoy chatting with them too!

You can explore the full Story Map through this LINK.

On top of that, each interview will be published on The Prairie Ecologist as its own blog post (Psst, the first one is just below)!

Neil Dankert has been surveying butterflies since 1984, just 4 years after TNC bought Niobrara Valley Preserve. Neil and I spoke during the 2024 butterfly survey about how much can be missed by timing and chance, Neil’s reflections on the 2012 wildfire at the preserve, and the importance of sharing knowledge to Neil’s journey.

Interview: July 2nd, 2024

Neil Dankert (left) identifies a butterfly in a plastic bag.

Part 1: Meet Neil

Location: Middle Creek at Niobrara Valley Preserve

Butterflies mentioned: Two-spotted Skipper (Euphyes bimacula), Dion skipper (Euphyes vestris)

These are soundbites from the annual butterfly surveys at Niobrara Valley Preserve. Every year, Lepidopterist Neil Dankert is joined by his partner, Jen, and assisted by Johnathon Nikkila and his son in his search for butterflies and moths that fill the records of the Lepidopterists Society and Niobrara Valley Preserve.

Lepidoptera: a group of insects that includes butterflies and moths

Butterflies mentioned: Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis), Gorgone Checkerspot (Chlosyne gorgone)

Those of us who hadn’t participated in surveys in the past first met Neil the night before. It was an informal gathering around a mercury vapor light, set up against a sheet to attract moths. We were pointing out moths and insects as they swarmed the sheet (and our faces) when Neil joined us, answering questions and identifying moths. The target of the night was the abbreviated underwing (Catocala abbreviatella), a species identifiable by the showy orange on its bottom two wings. It was a sight to behold; hundreds of moths and flies and insects that flit through the night.

Hubbard Fellows, and Neil Dankert (red shirt) looking at insects at a bug light (photo: Chris Helzer)

The next morning, we passed around some of Neil’s finds, temporarily housed in orange pill jars, until Neil interjected to set the day’s course, leading with the announcement that this would be his 40 th  year of surveying butterflies at Niobrara Valley Preserve.

We first hiked through woodlands swatting at more mosquitos than butterflies. But we caught sight of the occasional Wood Satyr (Megisto cymela) and Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala). Our second site was at a prairie on rolling hills where we chased our main targets for the day: skippers. Skippers are small brown butterflies that Neil’s partner, Jen, describes as looking like paper airplanes. To an untrained eye, skippers often look nondescript and indistinguishable from each other. So, we brought them to Neil, like offerings in Ziploc bags, and waited patiently for him to confirm or deny our guesses and acknowledge that this was an exciting find, or just another name and tally for the list.

Butterflies mentioned: Least skipper (Ancyloxypha numitor)

Two-spotted Skipper (Euphyes bimacula) (photo: Chris Helzer)

Our third site was Middle Creek, which runs to the Niobrara River from the north. Here, Neil and I let the others do the hard work of chasing butterflies, while Neil invited me to “pull up a tailgate” as we discussed his 40 years surveying butterflies and moths at Niobrara Valley Preserve. Neil needed no prompting to launch into his story while I scurried to record –

Notes For Context:

  • Dr. Hal Nagel: A biologist at University of Nebraska Kearney
  • Dr. Paul Opler: studied Lepidoptera for over 50 years. He wrote a number of field guides including the Peterson Field Guides to Butterflies of Eastern and Western North America
  • The Lepidoptera Society: A collective of Lepidoptera lovers, scientist and non-scientist, dedicated to the study, recordkeeping, and preservation of butterflies and moths
  • County Record: the first time a species is recorded in a particular county

You can find a link to the 1988 butterfly survey HERE. The survey covered seven sites across Niobrara Valley Preserve. It recorded 24 Brown County records and 42 Keya Paha County records, as well as 16 species at the edge of their geographic range.

Part 2: What Neil Doesn’t See

Location: One of the sites where Weidermeyer butterflies were recorded at Niobrara Valley Preserve

Neil’s interview was peppered with visits by surveyors, consulting Neil and sharing what they’d found with others

Butterflies mentioned: Little Glassy Wing (Vernia verna), Northern Broken Dash (Polites egeremet), Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)

Here’s one of the surveyors –

Butterflies mentioned: Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme)

Sulphur butterfly on curly cup gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa) (photo: Chris Helzer)

Back on topic now.

Neil’s career began with Niobrara Valley. And with guidance from other scientists and lepidopterists that shepherded Neil into the field, Neil holds a special perspective of the Niobrara Valley that spans decades. He’s watched species come and go. Some he relies on seeing every visit, others surprise him with their presence or their absence. He’s wondered at what he’s missed in the decades before his arrival that make his 40 years seem like a blink of an eye.

Notes for Context:

Read Neil’s blog post about these hybrids HERE.

Coral hairstreak (Satyrium titus) (photo: Chris Helzer)

Neil’s comment raises a question. What species do we miss when we choose only one day out of the year to survey and how do we account for them?

Maybe this presents an opportunity for deeper research. But in the meantime, the data that we do collect is no less meaningful.

Neil reflects on how his experience and the preserve has changed in the years since he began.

40 years of data can tell a long story. Neil watches changes on the landscape and how it impacts his butterflies. He mentions seeing the habitat change as the number of shrubs on prairies increases, an issue that concerns many grassland conservationists. Annual surveys can help us to understand how this impacts butterflies, by impacting things like access to host plants. But NVP is 56,000 acres with butterflies active for a third of the year. And speaking with Neil makes me so curious to know how much information exists beyond our 1-day survey. Who was flying in the far west corner of the preserve 2 weeks before we arrived?

Part 3: Fire on the Ridgetop

Location: The northern ridgetop, where ponderosa pines and eastern redcedars burned in the 2012 wildfire

Our closing ceremony of the survey is a count of all of the species we’ve seen, listed off in pieces scattered between surveyors and sites, and dutifully recorded by Neil. We’ve made our contribution to the list of 2000+ individual lepidopterans recorded in Nebraska.

Later, Neil and I continue our discussion.

Butterflies Mentioned: Two-tailed swallowtail (Pterourus multicaudata), Dusky wing (Erynnis sp.), Yucca Giant-Skipper (Megathymus yuccae)

The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve after the July 2012 wildfire (photo: Chris Helzer)

2012 was a drought year in Nebraska, resulting in several significant wildfires across the state. In July 2012, a lightning storm set off one such wildfire in Niobrara Valley Preserve. The fire burned 74,000 acres, including 30,000 acres of the Preserve. There were painful losses in the way of homes and facilities, but there’s an argument to be made for positive ecological impacts that the fire had on the preserve. For example, the fire burned through many eastern red cedars crowding out grasses and wildflowers on the northern ridge-side. That doesn’t mean there weren’t worries after the fire.

Hear Amanda Hefner talk about the fire in “Amanda Hefner 2: In the aftermath of the wildfires“.           

Neil shares the story from his perspective.

Part 4: A Butterfly Network

Location: Another site from the original survey at Niobrara Valley Preserve

Neil highlights it here, but throughout our discussion, his mention of names, advisors, and mentors shines a light on something I have loved experiencing in conservation: the interconnectivity of conservation and the importance of shared knowledge. It’s not so important to remember the names here as it is to understand how many people relied on and learned from to be where he is today. 

Butterflies mentioned: Great Spangled Fritillary (Argynnis cybele), Monarch (Danaus plexippus), Yucca Giant-Skipper (Megathymus yuccae), Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)

This sense of community extends to Neil’s experience at Niobrara Valley Preserve.

Chris Helzer (center) shows a butterfly to Neil and the rest of the surveyors

Neil was joined by his wife Jen, who shared her perspective of the survey and the community.

With a moment of reflection, Neil shares his closing remarks.

Photos of the Week – October 10, 2025

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The fall migration is in full swing through our prairies. Dragonflies, birds, butterflies, and more are moving southward. Going out on dewy mornings is a great way to check up on butterflies and dragonflies because I can find them immobile and covered in dew on their overnight roosts. This week was a big week for variegated meadowhawks (dragonflies), apparently. I found dozens of them at our family prairie one morning (more photos toward the end of this post).

Variegated meadowhawk at sunrise. Helzer family prairie.

There are lots of little brown birds skulking in the vegetation this week. Many of them are grassland sparrows of various species, but there also were a bunch of sedge wrens at our family prairie. Most of those birds are hard to see unless you flush them while walking through the prairie, but just standing still is also a good way to hear them as they rustle around in patches of tall grass. The sedge wrens made it easy because they not only rustled, they also called to each other with their machine gun songs (“Dot Dot d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d!”).

One of many sedge wrens hiding in the grass this week.

Monarchs are far from the only migratory butterfly (not to mention moths) coming through. I’ve seen a lot of painted lady butterflies this week and found a few orange sulphurs that (probably?) were on the move. There was a cluster of pearl crescent butterflies in our yard this week, too, but as far as I know, those aren’t migratory. They looked like they’d all recently emerged as adults, so they’d better hurry if they’re going to lay eggs before freezing temperatures hit!

Orange sulphur in the morning dew.

As I see the abundance of flies still active at this time of year, I can’t help wondering how many of them are migrants. A year ago, I wrote a post complaining about the lack of North American research on migratory flies. I’m sure that spurred a flurry of activity among researchers (eye roll) and that we’ll soon know a lot more about the topic. In the meantime, I’m left to wonder, especially about all the different drone flies and hover flies I see. Are they just scrambling to eat (and lay eggs?) before frost? Or are they fueling up during a long southward journey?

A gorgeous dew-covered fly. Is it a migrant or resident? I don’t have any idea. Lincoln Creek Prairie.

Most insects, of course, don’t migrate, so they have to survive Nebraska winters however they can. That usually involves finding a sheltered place to hide and then just withstanding freezing conditions. Species vary in terms of whether they go through winter as adults, eggs, or larvae/nymphs. All of those options seem to work ok.

This katydid thought it was hiding from me on an early morning this week. I’m not sure whether this species lives through the winter as adults or eggs.
Another shot of the same katydid.
Male American bumblebee (Bombus pensylvanicus) roosting on the underside of a tall thistle leaf.

A lot of the individual insects out and around now will simply die as winter hits. The only bumblebees, for example, that survive the winter are the fertilized females that will be next year’s queens. Everyone else in the colony will perish at the end of this season. Other insects that lay eggs before winter will also die after completing that task. I imagine that abundance of dead insects provides a big bonanza of food for any animals out poking around after the first big freeze or two. If not, bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms will clean up the rest.

This caterpillar was literally hanging around on some big bluestem (remarkably camouflaged!) this week. I imagine it’ll spend much of the winter frozen solid, either as a caterpillar or pupa.
Stink bug on big bluestem.

Plants are also shutting down for the year. Most wildflowers and grasses are finished blooming and have produced seeds if they can. Perennial prairie plants are also making buds. Woody plants make buds aboveground where new leaves or stems will emerge next year so the plants can continue to grow larger (assuming they don’t get burned, chewed, or cut down). Herbaceous plants, though, including grasses, wildflowers, and sedges, create buds at their bases, usually right below the surface of the soil.

Over the winter, the entire aboveground portion of perennial herbaceous plants dies back. In the spring, though, those plants will start a new season of growth from their basal buds. Seeds are still important for those perennials, though, both because it allows them to combine DNA with others of their species (cross-pollination) and because it lets them spread progeny into new places. Seed dispersal strategies are fascinating and beautiful, and it’s a fun time of year to see a lot of them in action.

Indiangrass seeds dangling from a seed head, ready to be carried off by a breeze or passing animal.
This milkweed seeds are poised to fly off in the wind once the sun dries the dew drops from them.

Late summer and early fall are great times for dewy mornings. Those water droplets are a boon for insect photographers, but they also make nice photo subjects on their own.

Dew drop hanging from a leaf after sunrise.
Another dew drop on a leaf.

Back to the abundance of variegated meadowhawks this week… I can’t remember seeing so many at a time before, but that doesn’t mean much. I tried to quickly photograph a selection of those I found at our family prairie one morning, but I just kept finding more and more. Here are the ones I managed to photograph:

There was one dragonfly in particular that was perched attractively on top of some stiff goldenrod as the sun came up. I circled back to it a couple times as it started warming up and managed to photograph it from multiple angles while it was still too cold and wet to fly away. All the rest of the photos below are of that same individual.

I don’t know how much longer this late season flurry of activity will last, so I’m trying to catch as much of it as I can. I’ve gotten behind on some projects because I’m trying to see things before they’re gone, but I’ll have the whole winter to catch up, right?