Tag Archives: niobrara valley preserve

Prairie Noise

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I just finished a great but very long day at the Niobrara Valley Preserve.  We were collecting sweep net data and counting flowering plants to evaluate the impacts of various fire and grazing treatments.  There was a lot of action in the prairie – an up close encounter with a pronghorn mother and twins, coyotes calling to each other just over the hill, 5 species of prairie clover blooming, wasps and bees everywhere, and loads of robber flies and assassin bugs going after those wasps, bees, and other insects.

However, what was most noticeable in the prairie today was the sound of cicadas.  The really loud incessant sound of cicadas.  They were calling to each other from perches on grasses, wildflowers, and shrubs, and flushing in front of us all day as we moved through the grassland.  The cicadas were most abundant and noisy in the depressions between hills, where they were protected from the moderate breeze.  I snuck up on one to get some video of it and then realized that I hadn’t yet figured out how to use the video function on my new camera.  After that cicada flew away unphotographed, I figured out the video function and then stalked a few more cicadas until I found one that let me get close enough to get both photographs and videos of it.

Often incorrectly called “locusts”, cicadas are pretty common during the heat of the summer, and they come in a variety of species.  As with many other animals, the males make loud sounds to attract females.  When a bunch of them are calling simultaneously, the sound can be incredibly loud, especially for such small insects.  Here’s a quick video from today:

Photo of the Week – June 29, 2017

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Monday night, I spent some time exploring the east bison pasture at the Niobrara Valley Preserve as the sun was going down.  The bison have been concentrating their grazing on the east end of the pasture that was burned in March.  Within that patch, most of the grasses have been grazed, along with the wildflowers they like best.  The sky was pretty spectacular, so I spent time photographing the vibrant green landscape and the bright wispy clouds above it.  When the sun was nearly down, however, I noticed the light illuminating patches of woolly plantain (Plantago patagonica), an annual plant that had just finished its flowering season.  I dropped down to the ground and photographed the backlit plants until the sun finally disappeared.

I ended up with two favorite images from those few minutes.  I like them both for different reasons, so I decided to share them both.

Woolly plantain is not a plant most people would call regal or beautiful, though it certainly has its charm.  Because it’s often overlooked, I like that these photos feature it so prominently.  Woolly plantain is a space-filler, a plant that can’t handle competition.  It grows and flowers only when other plants are weakened enough that it can find spaces between them.  A burned patch of sandy prairie grazed by bison creates perfect habitat for woolly plantain, and these photos celebrate the plantain, the prairie, and all of the processes that link them all together.

…Plus, it was pretty dang cool to be lying on my stomach, watching the sun go down over a huge prairie landscape while a big herd of bison grazed in the distance…