Tag Archives: photography

Photo of the Week – September 6, 2013

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Here are three photos from the last couple weeks that didn’t fit into any particular story or theme.  Each is from a different prairie, and each was the result of a quick opportunistic stop in the midst of doing something else.  The pitcher sage photo (immediately below) came after I walked past a patch of the flowers and then backed up to capture the image that stuck in my head when I first walked past.  I noticed the soldier beetle (second photo) as I was walking back to take more photos of the praying mantis eating the sphinx moth.  Finally, I spotted the bee sitting on a dew-covered gayfeather flower (third photo) as I got out of my truck to work on a fence project at our farm.

Pitcher sage (Salvia azurea) in our plant diversity research plots. Platte River Prairies, Nebraska.

Pitcher sage (Salvia azurea) in our plant diversity research plots. Platte River Prairies, Nebraska.

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A soldier beetle on a grass leaf. Lincoln Creek Prairie - Aurora, Nebraska.

A soldier beetle on a grass leaf. Lincoln Creek Prairie – Aurora, Nebraska.

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A male long-horned bee (Melissodes sp) on dotted gayfeather (Liatris punctata). Helzer family prairie - south of Aurora, Nebraska.

A male long-horned bee (Melissodes sp) on dotted gayfeather (Liatris punctata). Helzer family prairie – south of Aurora, Nebraska.

A Fuzzy Meal

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I took a quick trip over to Lincoln Creek Prairie again this last weekend.  Two weeks ago, I photographed a praying mantis and saw several others.  This trip, I saw a couple more – including one that had captured, and was eating, a large sphinx moth.  I took a couple photographs of it and then moved on to look for other subjects.  A few minutes later, however, I found myself drawn back to the mantis, and just sat and watched him for a while.  Here are a few photographs from that morning.

A

When I first spotted it, the mantis was upside down on a pitcher sage (Salvia azurea) plant, and the moth was still struggling feebly.

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B

As it fed, the mantis was getting fuzz all over its head.

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C

As I watched, the mantis tried – mostly unsuccessfully – to wipe some of the hairs off its face.

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D

It’s always interesting to see which part of their prey a predator will start feeding on.  In this case, the mantis was eating the underside of the thorax first.

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