62 Nebraskaland • May 2023
THE LAST STOP
Several years ago I was taking closeup photos
of bird feathers, mainly those of game birds, for a
Nebraskaland photo spread. While photographing a
greater prairie chicken I took several shots of its feet,
and they looked interesting in the fading sunlight. I
thought that maybe I could tie one of them into the
photo spread, for the upper foot is feathered. The photo
did not make the cut, but Jeff Kurrus, Nebraskaland
editor, said he liked the photo: "Find a way to use it in
the magazine."
The big question, however, was how? How does one
wrap a story around a photo of a prairie chicken foot?
I thought about doing a short natural history article
on prairie chicken feet. I discovered that the feathers
on the upper foot helps the native grassland bird
retain warmth during the cold of winter, the tooth-like
projections of skin on the toes help it walk on snow,
and the long toenails are used for scratching and
digging for food, but that's not enough information for
an article.
I then showed the photo to a hunting friend and
he suggested I do a photo spread on the feet of game
birds — ducks, geese and pheasants — similar to my
feather photo spread. I had my doubts that Kurrus
would go for a photo exhibit on birds' feet, and to make
it a moot point, I never got around to photographing
other birds' feet.
I was out ideas. Then, a while back, Kurrus
mentioned that he needed photos for "The Last Stop"
in future magazine issues. I started pondering and
the prairie chicken foot photo popped into my mind.
The Last Stop is a one-pager and includes little text; I
wouldn't need much of a story.
Enjoy the photo.
By Gerry Steinauer
THE PRAIRIE CHICKENFOOT PHOTO
