Photo of the Week – October 5, 2017

I had a few minutes after a meeting yesterday to walk through a restored wetland in our Platte River Prairies.  I didn’t really have any preconceived notion of what I was looking for – I just wanted to explore a site I hadn’t visited for a while.  There weren’t many flowers still blooming, but the golds and browns of autumn vegetation were still mixed with quite a bit of green.  Recent rains had raised the level of the stream flowing through the site, as well as the groundwater-linked wetlands adjacent to it.  I pulled my muck boots on over the decent jeans I’d worn for the meeting and wandered out into the wetland.  Here are a few of the photos I got from my brief walk.  I hope you enjoy them.

Water flows over a small beaver dam, split and rippled by multi-colored vegetation.

Swamp milkweed seeds lined up and waiting to make their jump.

A beggarticks (Bidens sp) plant in water surrounded by floating duckweed.

Photo of the Week – August 11, 2017

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that I take a lot of photos of insects, especially on flowers.  For some reason, my eyes just gravitate toward flowers in search of little invertebrates.  Over the last couple weeks, though, I’ve made a concerted effort to take at least a few photos of few flowers that didn’t have insects.  As it turns out, flowers are kinda pretty all on their own.

Here are a few.

Illinois tickclover (Desmodium illinoensis). Lincoln Creek Prairie, Aurora, Nebraska.

Entire-leaved rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium). The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies, Nebraska.

Velvety gaura (Gaura parviflora). The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies, Nebraska.

Roundheaded bushclover (Lespedeza capitata). Lincoln Creek Prairie, Aurora, Nebraska.

Rocky mountain bee plant (Cleome serrulata). The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies, Nebraska.

Prairie gentian (Eustoma grandiflorum). The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies, Nebraska.