Flora & Fauna

By Monica Macoubrie, Wildlife Education Specialist Mountain lions, wolves, sharks and eagles, they have long been regarded as a few of the most stunning animals on Earth. As predators, they have inspired people by their strength, grace and ferocity, yet despite this fascination, predators have also been some of the most historically persecuted animals on the planet. They have been deemed villainous when they kill or injure livestock, threaten human safety, or cause economic damages. The motivation to remove predators …

  By Alie Mayes, Community Science Education Specialist You are looking to connect. So, you open your dating app and start scrolling through profiles. No, no, nope, heck no. And then, you pause. Something’s different about this one. It reads: “About Me: Life is all about the connections. I am dynamic, resilient and always seeking balance. Love Languages: Acts of Service and Quality Time What I’m Looking For: I’m Looking for a partner who is nurturing, always looking for the …

Story and photos by Renae Blum It had been a slow year so far. But not at this moment. Joanne Langabee calls out, “I’ve got an orange and a blue!” Her companion, Holly Hofreiter, responds almost immediately: “I’ve got a Peck’s” — short for Peck’s skipper. One butterfly after another materializes from the prairie grasses at their feet, just seconds apart, but the women aren’t fazed. They continue calling back and forth in a kind of butterfly shorthand, identifying new …

By Julie Geiser Cicada killer wasps will start emerging from the ground anytime, but these docile wasps only have one thing on their minds: seeking out cicadas. Found across the U.S., these native wasps start to appear in mid-to-late July through August in Nebraska. Cicada killer wasps are approximately 2 inches long with black and yellow on their abdomens and amber-colored wings. When you hear male cicadas begin singing to attract their mates, adult cicada killer wasps will start to …

By Monica Macoubrie, Wildlife Education Specialist  This is a familiar sight in Nebraska: You’re driving along a two-lane highway listening to the radio, when all of a sudden, a dinosaur walks across the road just ahead of you. OK, not literally a dinosaur, but a living creature that is as close as you can get — a snapping turtle. As you approach the turtle, you notice that it’s earnestly on a mission, however slow and lumbering. It’s trying to make …

Story and photos by Gerry Steinauer, Botanist As their name implies, each dayflower blossom is fleeting. New flowers that open to greet the rising sun close about noon and wither by dusk. The lovely blue flowers are as delicate as they are short-lived. When rubbed between one’s fingers, their petals quickly disintegrate into a watery ooze. Belonging to the spiderwort family (Commelinaceae), two dayflower species, both growing up to a foot tall, inhabit Nebraska. Slender dayflower (Commelina erecta) is a …

We are in the “dog days” of summer. In fact, it was so hot in Nebraska the other day I saw a coyote chasing a rabbit and they both were walking! Just kidding. On the serious side of things, wildflowers are in bloom, ears of sweet corn are being harvested and elderberries will soon be ripe. The start of school is also just around the corner. Boating, swimming, tubing and fishing are being widely enjoyed now on the hot weekends. …

Story and Photos by Chris Helzer Wasps are amazing. No, seriously, they’re startlingly cool. To begin with, there are more than 100,000 wasp species that have been cataloged by science and many more that haven’t. Among all those species, there is incredible variation in size, shape, lifestyle and aggression toward humans. Spoiler alert: Only a tiny percentage of wasps pose any threat to us at all. Categorizing all wasps as aggressive, winged canisters of pain is like categorizing all Husker …

By Jamie Bachmann, Outdoor Educator While there may be plenty of hot days left this summer, I know that cool, fall days are on their way when I begin to hear the distinctive sounds of cicadas. Cicadas are one of the coolest and most noticeable group of insects active during this time of year. Take a look at image above, which shows an exuviae, the remaining exoskeleton of an adult cicada that has just emerged, or eclosed. I’m sure you …

Story and photos by Gerry Steinauer, Botanist To find roundleaf monkey-flower (Mimulus glabratus), do not look high in the trees. Instead, head to the cold, clear water streams of central and western Nebraska. The plant’s favorite haunts include the slow shallows of spring-fed Sandhills streams and the sandy-bottomed pools of spring-branch canyon streams flowing into the central Niobrara River. Avoid streams where agricultural runoff has muddied the waters: You will be hard pressed to find it there. Often growing partially …