The Prairie Ecologist

Photography is all about light, and quality outdoor light often comes in short spurts. Now and then, though, a long window opens up and it sure feels good when I have time to take advantage of it.

Last Saturday morning was cloudy, which meant sunrise light wasn’t anything worth rushing out the door for. On the other hand, the clouds were thin and it looked like they might hang around for a while, so I took time to eat some breakfast and then headed north to Gjerloff Prairie. As it turned out, the clouds gave me tremendous light for about three hours and, combined with a very light breeze, that made for a fantastic morning for close-up photography.

A female Reakirt’s blue butterfly trying to soak up some heat from the cloud-diffused sun.

One more. I left her alone after this photo.

Some recent rains have slightly eased the drought conditions around here, though it’s going to take a lot more to prevent dry, brown mid-summer prairie plants. The prairie will survive that just fine, but it could be a really tough summer for livestock and the people who rely on those livestock for a living. For now, though, the prairies are green and starting to fill with wildflowers.

Prairie dandelion (*Nothocalais cuspidata*) has already gone to seed.

This is scarlet gaura. Or, it used to be before botanists changed its entire name (genus AND species). Instead of *Gaura coccinea*, it is now *Oenothera suffrutescens*, apparently. It’s still real pretty.

Woolly plantain, backlit with fun light patterns from dew drops and sun glare.

Woolly plantain with even more wild light patterns.

Woolly milkweed (*Asclepias lanuginosa*) is a small, unassuming milkweed that’s always fun to find.

I came across a bumble bee mimic robber fly. It was still cool and dewy enough that it wasn’t quite ready to fly off, so I got to hang out with it for a little while and try out a few different lenses and compositions. Robber flies are incredible predators that launch themselves into the air to snag flying prey. Their flying prowess seems sufficient for success, but some of them have the added advantage of looking like a bumble bee. Bumble bees might scare some people, but they don’t really scare most insects because they’re not predators. Except the ones that are really robber flies.

A robber fly (*Laphria* sp?) doing a very good bumble bee impression.

A little leaf beetle and water droplet on a grass leaf blade.

Tiny katydid nymphs were all over the place, though they were hard to see because of their diminutive size. The easiest way to find them was to look for their long antennae waving around. Those long antennae are an easy way for humans to distinguish katydids from grasshoppers but they look difficult to walk around with.

Katydid nymph on pale poppy mallow – with a crab spider attached.

Crab spider nestled in a daisy fleabane blossom.

A sunflower maggot fly being coy with me.

I’m finishing this post from a hotel in Missouri where I’m attending the annual workshop for the Grassland Restoration Network. This year, we’re at the Shaw Nature Reserve, which is a beautiful place that features some spectacular restoration projects. More on that later.

Besides the opportunity to mingle with and learn from SNR’s staff and the roughly 100 workshop participants, it’s also fun to see a lot of prairie plants that are blooming several weeks earlier than they will be back home. It’s like seeing a trailer for the Nebraska summer prairie – if the Nebraska summer prairie was a movie.

Of course, while there’s a lot of overlap between eastern Missouri and central Nebraska prairie species, there are also a lot of big differences. In light of that, I guess it’s not really like seeing a trailer for the Nebraska Summer Prairie. But it’s still fun to see a lot of plants that are flowing here but are not yet flowering at home.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed seeing some of what’s happening at Gjerloff Prairie, which – to be clear – is in Nebraska and not Missouri.

I spent a couple days at the Niobrara Valley Preserve this week. I’ll be back again next week for our plant identification/habitat workshop on Tuesday May 19 (9am-2:30pm). If you’re interested in joining us for that (it’s free!), it’s not too late to sign up. Just email Kate (kate.samuelson@tnc.org) to RSVP. There might even be some housing available on the preserve if you act fast!

The prairie is just waking up in the Sandhills. The dry spring hasn’t helped much, but things are starting to bloom here and there. This week’s warm temperatures are speeding up growth and the weekend shows at least some chances of rain, which would really help. Still, there was plenty to see, even if we had to search a little to find flowers.

Hairy puccoon (*Lithospermum carolinense*)

Great Plains bladder-pod (*Physaria ludoviciana*)

Some of the early prairie sedges were already done blooming. These are some of the most abundant plants in the mixed-grass prairie, but often overlooked. They’re easiest to see and identify when they have flowers or, better yet, seed heads.

Insect galls on prairie wild rose (*Rosa arkansana*)

Sandhills prairie all the way to the horizon in the east bison pasture (10,000 acres)

Sandhills prairie with the river bluffs in the background

As the sun was setting Monday night, I climbed a hill to watch the sun and clouds over the river. I was not disappointed. I found a western wallflower in bloom and was able to frame it in front of both the sun and the river by lying down and putting my camera right on the ground. (I wonder what percentage of my life I’ve spent lying on the ground in a prairie? Not enough, I’d argue, but surely much more than most people.)

Many shrub species are in full bloom at the Preserve right now, including chokecherry and currant, and skunkbush sumac is about ready to open.

Chokecherry blossoms (*Prunus virginiana*)

Tuesday morning started with a nice and peaceful a sunrise as one could hope for. Once that sun got up, the wind started showing off a little, which was a little less pleasant, but it’s hard to complain too much when you’re exploring a place like this.

The Niobrara Valley Preserve headquarters

It’ll be fun to see how much changes between this week and next. We’re getting to the time of year where there are new flowers blooming each day, new birds migrating in, new bees emerging from the ground, etc. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll take my camera with me next week, too…

The Prairie Ecologist

Essays, photos, and discussion about prairie ecology, restoration, and management

Photos of the Week – May 27, 2026

Photos of the Week – May 15, 2026