Prairie Pair - Bobolinks

"Prairie Pair – Bobolinks was designed to work both as a cover for a new book, the Iowa Breeding Bird Atlas and as a limited edition print. Having long been fascinated with the tall grass prairie, I already had lots of reference material on both the prairie and bobolinks. During the previous century bobolinks, in their drab winter plumage, were known as rice birds in much of the south and were shot in great numbers, both for sale by market hunters and by farmers to save their rice fields. Though bobolinks have been protected for almost a century, their numbers have never come back to earlier levels. The bobolink was originally an eastern songbird but over time has expanded its range westward. Interestingly, it still follows its historic migration route across the Caribbean on its way to South America, rather than taking the shorter route through Mexico. I chose, as a setting, the tall grass prairie in mid to late summer, when the waves of yellow coneflower contrast with the purple spikes of blazing star or Liatrix. One of my favorite butterflies, the tiger swallowtail, echoes the yellow and black colors of the male bobolink, while clusters of small white blossoms repeat the whites on his rump and scapulars."

- Larry Zach