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Flora & Fauna

Rebranding Blowouts

Grassland habitat doesn’t always equal an abundance of cover. Some of the most barren places in the Sandhills attract a lot of wildlife, including a broad diversity of small creatures that think bare sand looks pretty dang hospitable. Story and photos by Chris Helzer Blowouts in the Nebraska Sandhills need a better public relations agent. They’re unpopular with ranchers, who tend to focus on the reasonable fact that bare sand contains very little cattle food. Among the other residents of …

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Animal Communication

Secret messages in the natural world By Amber Schiltz, Education Assistant Division Administrator  Communication is how living creatures, including humans and other animals, share information. As humans, we share information with one another in many obvious ways, such as talking, texting or writing. We also communicate through less obvious ways, through music, body language, signals, pictures, other artwork and more. As social creatures, communication is one of our strong suites as a species. But did you know that other animals …

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Look Out for Birds’ Nests!

A few common birds’ nests in Nebraska By Monica Macoubrie, Wildlife Education Specialist I’m sure all of us have seen a bird’s nest before. It’s normally a conglomeration of sticks, mud, twine, leaves and sometimes trash, like wrappers or old fishing line. Whatever the material it’s constructed from, a bird’s nest is truly an amazing feat of engineering. Imagine your own home: It’s strong enough to weather a storm, it’s waterproof, it protects you from the cold and the heat, …

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The Hibernation Checklist

By Monica Macoubrie, Wildlife Education Specialist I’m sure some of us can think of nothing better to do in the winter than sleeping through the entire thing. Being able to avoid the cold and early darkness in the warmth and comfort of bed sounds just about perfect. Well, some animals do sleep all winter, but it’s much different than what we’d imagine for ourselves. Hibernation takes a lot of preparation, and it’s an often-misunderstood behavior in animals. There are very …

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Disappearing Act

Story and photos by Chris Helzer I was on the way out to The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies when the preserve manager, Cody Miller, called. “Hey, have you ever seen a spadefoot toad?” “Just once,” I said, “but never along the Platte. You got one?” “Yep,” he said. “I saw it hopping away from the mower, and so I moved it to safety. It wasn’t the kind of toad I expected! I’m holding it until you get here.” Fifteen …

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Nebraska’s Nine Turtles

By Monica Macoubrie, Wildlife Education Specialist Turtles are some of the oldest living and unique animals on the planet. Let’s start with the obvious: their shell. A turtle shell is unlike any other physical, protective device found on an animal. Most turtles have a hard shell made from beta keratin. These hard shells are covered in scutes, similar to scales, which gives them rigidity for protection. But not all turtles have hard shells. Nebraska is home to two species of …

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Rediscovering Hairy Clematis

Story and photos by Gerry Steinauer With no formal training as a writer, my Nebraskaland articles usually require hard work — including days pondering a storyline, late nights writing and re-rewriting, as well as extensive travel to obtain photos. Recently, however, the storyline and photos for an article on the rare hairy clematis (Clematis hirisutissima) fell into my lap. The Plant Although hairy clematis is common throughout much of the western United States, it is rare in Nebraska. Here it …

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Bird Banding in the Panhandle

By: Delanie Bruce, Education Manager, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies & Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area and Chadron State Park saw a lot of birds this fall migration season. Over the seven-week period, Aug. 24-Oct. 15, 2022, staff banded nearly 700 song birds between the two stations: 165 birds at Chadron and 527 birds at Wildcat Hills. Bird banding is the process of capturing wild birds and placing a uniquely numbered band around one leg …

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On the Move Again

Explore Fall Bird Migration By Olivia DaRugna, Watchable Wildlife Biologist As summer vacations come to an end and a new season of Husker football begins, many birds have already begun their journeys from northern breeding territories to their southern wintering grounds. Songbirds, shorebirds and waterfowl typically migrate at night, arriving to new locations to rest and refuel during the day. This is an exciting time for birders as our favorite locations can transform literally overnight from having almost no avian …

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The True Essence of Deer Hunting

Someone once said: “Deer hunting is a lot about nothing.” “Nothing,” seriously? In my view, that statement is so far from the truth. It is the time of year for archery deer hunters and soon, firearm deer hunters, to be on their stands or in their blinds all day long, up to 12 hours … alone. During part of a day off, Nebraska Conservation Officer Rich Berggren of Waterloo allows a photo to be taken before he enters his firearm …

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