By Nancy Patterson, Public Affairs Specialist, BLM’s Greater Sage-Grouse Rocky Mountain Region. Photos by Nancy Patterson (BLM Public Affairs Specialist), Lisa Marks (BLM Geologist), and Helen Ulmschneider (BLM) and R Dixon (IDFG).
The wind whistles across the sagebrush landscape. It gusts against the frosty backs of pronghorn, who stare it down, calculating if they can outpace the wind. They are the fastest animal in North America after all. The herd gathers together and trudges along a well-beaten path to a smooth-wire fence. They shimmy under and continue their quest to find sagebrush sticking up from the drifted snow. They know its ever-green leaves will ease their hunger.
Pale sapphire sky blends into white blowing snow, which rasps against the sparse vegetation. Where there is a rise or obstruction in its path, wind has scraped the surface clear, revealing gnarled branches of sagebrush, bitterbrush, and rubber rabbit brush. Behind these windbreaks lie drifts of snow.
In the pocket of shelter between snow and sagebrush crouches a tiny pygmy rabbit, endemic to the sagebrush ecosystem. The entrance to its burrow lies just behind it, hidden among the bush’s canopy. The pygmy rabbit surveys its surroundings. It assesses that the snow is too deep and turns to tunnel a path below the snow. In these cold winter months, pygmy rabbits use their burrow and network of snow tunnels for thermal cover and as an underground highway to find food.
The pygmy rabbit isn’t the only one to realize it’s warmer under the surface. As wind gusts across the surface, it’s quiet in a white-tailed prairie dogs’ underground colony. Unlike the black-tailed prairie dog, this sage-dependent species hibernates during the long winter. Perhaps the colony’s rest is fitful this winter; a black-footed ferret was seen recently in the neighborhood. The endangered ferret depends on prairie dogs for 90% of its diet. Fortunately for the white-tailed prairie dog, this rare North American ferret tends to prey on sagebrush voles, mice, cottontail and jackrabbits in winter months.
More than any other season, Greater sage-grouse depend entirely on sagebrush in winter. While the cold and snow complicate many animals ability to find sufficient food, Greater sage-grouse find nourishment in tender sagebrush leaves. This time of year, they can actually gain weight. Dense sagebrush shrubs provide horizontal and vertical cover from the elements. On a cold snowy day, Greater sage-grouse will shelter between bush and snowdrift. By February, male Greater sage-grouse anticipate gathering on leks, open spaces found among clumps of sagebrush, to begin their annual mating dance, the strut. But that time remains in the future.
As the day draws to a close, the sky turns brilliant pastel purple, pink, sherbet orange, and periwinkle. Almost immediately, surface temperatures plummet. Puffs of steam emit from the nostrils of a herd of fuzzy mule deer and the coyote watching them from a distance. Millions of stars pierce the inky night, sparkling like gems in the sky. A cold moon begins to rise, casting silvery shadows on the landscape.
Animals of the sagebrush ecosystem are scrappy creatures, adapted to harsh conditions, limited water, brutal sun, and freezing winters. They are survivors. Even so, as the coldest days drift past, they long for spring and summer. Fortunately, there is hope on the horizon. Winter days are lengthening. Every evening the weak sunlight seems to last a fraction longer than the day before. Spring is coming.
Once spanning almost 300 million acres of North America (an area larger than Texas and California combined), habitat fragmentation, development, agricultural conversion, tree encroachment, invasive species like cheatgrass and resulting wildfires have caused the sagebrush ecosystem to shrink to approximately half its original size.
Like Greater sage-grouse, more than 350 species depend on the sagebrush ecosystem for their survival. People are one of them. The #350species series highlights the many animals, plants, and insects that live on the range, and weaves our human stories and sense of place into this complex landscape. The BLM manages about 67 million acres of the remaining Greater sage-grouse habitat. These public lands connect to private, state, and federal lands across the range. Conserving such a large ecosystem and key species like the Greater sage-grouse truly requires an all hands, all lands approach. With this in mind, the BLM and partners are working together and with the Greater sage-grouse plans on efforts that sustain the sagebrush landscape and the many species who call it home. #350species
Learn more: BLM Sage-Grouse, My Public Lands Tumblr
Story By Nancy Patterson, Public Affairs Specialist, BLM’s Greater Sage-Grouse Rocky Mountain Region
What made this highway of tiny tracks? Where are they going? Wait! What’s that sticking up out of the snow? It’s an antler! But what’s an antler doing in the Big Empty? You might think it’d just be a cool decoration for your house. But this antler is a crucial source of nutrients for small animals of sagebrush country.
Antlers grow on members of the cervidae, or deer, family. Except for caribou, only males grow antlers. In the sagebrush ecosystem, two of the cervidae you may see are mule deer and elk. Deer antlers are made of bone, extend from their skull, and fall off every year. Young males typically grow spikes and single-pronged antlers. As the buck or bull ages, their antlers grow in mass and more tines develop.
It take a lot of energy and calcium to grow a set of antlers. All summer long in the high country deer graze on vitamin-rich vegetation, which gives them the strength they need to produce their annual antlers. The developing antlers are very tender. They’re covered in velvet, which provides protection and nutrients to the growing bones. As fall approaches, the bone hardens and the velvet gets itchy. Deer rub it off on branches to polish them for the rut, their mating season. With their handsome set of antlers, bull elk and buck mule deer are ready to display their might and prowess to competing males and attract the attention of doe deer and cow elk.
But what are antlers doing in sagebrush country? At the end of the rut, many elk and mule deer migrate to lower elevations to spend the winter. Snowfall is lighter there and it’s easier to graze on their winter food of sagebrush. Over the course of winter, hormonal shifts weaken the pedicel, where the antler-growing center is located. Eventually, the cervidae will shed first one and then the other antler.
Besides deer, more than 350 animals depend on the sagebrush ecosystem for their survival. But, the Big Empty is a tough place to get enough nutrients. Discarded antlers are a boon for small sagebrush animals. They’re the equivalent to a calcium supplement, daily multivitamin, and trip to the dentist. Voles, mice, rabbits, ground squirrels, and other small animals gnaw on the sheds for vital calcium, phosphorus, and other minerals. The antlers also help these animals sharpen their teeth, which makes it easier to bite, chew, and eat.
When you’re out in sagebrush country, see if you can spot a shed. Take time to observe it. Is it weathered and chalky in appearance or richly colored and smooth? Can you spot teeth marks on it? What tracks are nearby? What do you think has been foraging for calcium from the antler? Remember, stay curious and keep exploring!
Fun Fact Friday: #You’re it! Fence Modifications Help Grouse and Wildlife
By Nancy Patterson, Public Affairs Specialist, Greater Sage-Grouse Rocky Mountain Region
When you’re out in sagebrush country, you’re likely to spot fence lines. Fences crisscross western landscapes, often following ownership and livestock grazing patterns. Many of these fences are made of wire and can be hard to spot in certain light conditions.
The more than 350 species of wildlife that live here have to figure out ways to move through this landscape, even with fences across it. Mule deer agilely leap over fences. Pronghorn can’t jump over fences so they seek out places where they can slip underneath or detour around until they find a crossing point. Greater sage-grouse prefer to shuffle underneath fences to stay out of sight of predators.
Sometimes Greater sage-grouse will take flight, barely skimming above sagebrush let alone a fence. In addition, when males fly into a lek, their mating grounds, often it is in limited visibility near dawn or dusk. Since wire fences are relatively low and can blend into surroundings, this creates a collision hazard for the grouse.
A simple solution is to use tags to increase visibility of fences. Tags are placed about a wingspan apart on the top wire of a fence. Often made of white vinyl, tags help the birds recognize that a hazard exists. This works somewhat like how people will use lights to mark tall buildings, water towers, hills, and transmission lines to alert pilots of hazards.
In Wyoming, a recent study has helped identify and confirm effective methods. These include observing that vegetation acts as a natural “fence tag” which encourages birds to fly above it, and installing tags near leks with high counts, on fences with metal T-posts versus wooden posts, and on fences that are exposed above surrounding vegetation.
BLM and partners use research, site knowledge, and resources like NRCS’s Sage Grouse Initiative’s web-based mapping tool to identify high-risk collision areas and prioritize tagging those fences. Throughout sagebrush country, these efforts are making a difference.
In BLM-Montana/Dakota’s Lewistown Field Office, staff and partners have tagged 305 miles of fences on public and private lands around 56 Greater sage-grouse leks since 2010. These leks supported 1,036 displaying males in 2016. Since 2010 leks near the tagged fences have seen a 47% increase in lek attendance. While favorable weather likely contributed to most gains, marking fences also reduced vulnerability to fence strikes in these high concentration areas.
When you’re out in sagebrush country, look around at fences to see what modifications have been made to help wildlife. You might spot smooth wire fences, pipe sections for wildlife crossings, and vinyl tags placed on top wires to help pronghorn, ungulates, and Greater sage-grouse more easily navigate the world around them. Keep exploring!
Fun Fact Friday: A Natural Winter Windbreak in Sagebrush
Story By Nancy Patterson, Public Affairs Specialist, Greater Sage-Grouse Rocky Mountain Region; Photos by Nancy Patterson (BLM), Lisa Marks (BLM), and Tom Koerner (USFWS)
It’s blizzarding in sagebrush country! Negative temperatures, snowfall, and winds pull together for a threatening whiteout. What are wildlife to do out in the Big Empty to protect themselves from winter weather conditions? Let sagebrush come to the rescue!
While black-tailed prairie dogs hide out in their burrows during snowstorms and horned lizards move into hibernation, many of sagebrush country’s more than 350 species depend on lucky breaks among the shrubs for food and shelter.
Sagebrush have a long tap root, which helps secure it to the ground and draw water and nutrients from the soil. These nutrients enter the plant and some transpose to wildlife that eat their ever-verdant leaves. Mule deer, pronghorn antelope, and Greater sage-grouse all depend on this food source in winter months.
On the surface, sagebrush’s round form and dense branches create perfect protection from harsh conditions on the range. As the wind whips across the landscape, snow blows and catches on windbreaks created by the sagebrush. There the snow drops, creating drifts.
Little pockets and hollows form between the drift and sagebrush canopy. These make safe protected shelters for sagebrush voles, rabbits, Greater sage-grouse and other small animals of the ecosystem. And even people have used this tool when they’ve been out on cold, windy days and needed shelter. Sagebrush delivers in times of need.
When you’re out exploring sagebrush country this winter, stay bundled up and keep your eyes alert for windswept snow shapes! You may just spot a sagebrush windbreak, catch a glimpse of an animal hunkered underneath its shelter, or watch an ungulate munch on its evergreen leaves. Keep exploring!
Fun Fact Friday: What’s a Greater sage-grouse to do when it’s feeling parched? Find a guzzler to guzzle from.
Story by Kelly Bockting, Wildlife Biologist, BLM-MT Dillon Field Office, and Nancy Patterson, Public Affairs Specialist, Greater Sage-Grouse Rocky Mountain Region
Did you know much of the sagebrush ecosystem receives less than 12 inches of precipitation per year? That’s less than half of the United States’s average 30 inches annually! The more than 350 species that live here are specially adapted to live in this dry place. But the lack of moisture can make it tough for animals to get enough to drink. One way BLM-Montana/Dakota’s Dillon Field Office helps provide that extra drink is with water guzzlers for wildlife.
Wildlife guzzlers catch rainwater and snowmelt in a storage tank and dispense the water into a drinker so all wildlife species have access to drinking water. Since water can be hard to find in the sagebrush ecosystem, guzzlers are generally placed 2-3 miles from other water sources to provide water in between other oases of the range.
Dillon Field Office has installed several wildlife guzzlers in recent few years. Their goal is to provide a reliable water source during drought cycles and to enhance water distribution throughout big game summer habitats. The guzzlers also help reduce pressure on private lands, especially on agricultural lands where pronghorn, deer and elk may congregate in late summer when their summer range begins to dry up.
Sources of water attract all kinds of wildlife and the Dillon Field Office wanted to figure out what species are using guzzlers. One technique is to look for tracks and scat around them, but it can be hard to identify how many mammals and bird species use the guzzlers with this method.
In summer 2016, staff placed trail cameras at several guzzlers to see what they could find. As expected, they spotted pronghorn, deer, coyotes, magpies and an occasional badger or hawk. But the big surprise was the Greater sage-grouse captured on camera in late summer!
Typically Greater sage-grouse receive enough fluids from the succulent (or tender) vegetation it eats, like sagebrush. But sometimes it relies on open water and a well-placed water guzzler can help with this need.
This September before the fall rains began in Dillon, many of the springs, seeps and succulent vegetation were drying up. This led flocks of Greater sage-grouse to the guzzlers daily. And, the trail cams captured some great photos!
Fun Fact Friday: How Do You Survive in the Big Empty? These Lagomorphs Use Superpower Adaptations, of Course.
By Nancy Patterson, Public Affairs Specialist, Greater Sage-Grouse Rocky Mountain Region
It’s wide open in the Big Empty of sagebrush country. For the more than 350 species that live here, hiding spots are few and horizons are long. When you’re a favorite food of lots of predators you need special adaptations to survive. Lagomorphs are adaptation champs in this ecosystem. The term lagomorph describes mammals in the order of lagomorpha, better known as hares, rabbits, and pikas. In sagebrush country, some lagomorphs you might see are jackrabbits, cottontails, and pygmy rabbits.
Rabbits and hares have big eyes set on the sides of their heads. This gives them a wide viewpoint to look around for threats. Their large ears act like giant microphones to capture the slightest sound. And their long back feet act as a speedy superpower. With them they can spring into the air and dart quickly in a jig-jag pattern to escape predators. Jackrabbits can run at speeds of 40 miles per hour and their powerful hind legs can propel them in 10-foot leaps with each bound. Imagine trying to keep up with one of these athletic racers!
But, it’s tough to survive on big feet, eyes, and ears alone. It also helps to have superpower hiding adaptations. And rabbits and hares have some that act just like invisibility cloaks.
The tiny pygmy rabbit only lives in sagebrush country. Its unique adaptation is that it is one of the only North American lagomorphs to dig burrows. Often its burrow entrances are located near its main food source of sagebrush. That means it can make a secret getaway when threats come near.
Not one to dig holes, cottontail rabbits hunker in hollows under rocks and shrubs to stay hidden. Their mottled grey-brown fur helps them disguise as the ground and plants that surround them. Cottontails will often stay completely still and listen intently when a threat approaches and then dart out suddenly and randomly for an escape.
But, jackrabbits (actually a hare) have an especially clever camouflage. No matter the season, they blend into the background. In summer, their fur matches that of the dry forbs and shrubs of the sagebrush. In winter months, their fur turns white like the snowy landscape around them. Unless they twitch their ears or begin to hop, it’s hard to spot them.
If you’re out exploring the range, keep your eyes open for these clever creatures. You’re bound to find some of their tracks, scat, or maybe even glimpse a lagomorph as it explores for food and shelter. But watch out, its eyes and ears are always on the alert and you might just witness a blur scampering past in pursuit of safety.
Photos by: Lisa Marks (BLM), Tom Koerner (FWS), Helen Ulmschneider (BLM) and R Dixon (IDFG)
Fun Fact Friday: To Migrate or To Staycation? Sagebrush is a Great Home for These Birds
By Nancy Patterson, Public Affairs Specialist, Greater Sage-Grouse Rocky Mountain Region
Brrr! It’s getting cold out in northern sagebrush country! With snow beginning to fall, animals are on the move. Like Greater sage-grouse, more than 350 species call this place home, but some only spend part of the year here and others stay year-round.
Many birds head south. Sage thrashers and Brewer’s sparrows fly to the warmer southern United States and Mexico. Swainson’s Hawks left months ago, gathered into kettles of tens of thousands of birds to travel all the way to Argentina for the winter months. Imagine doing a round-trip trek of more than 12,000 miles from South America to northern North America each year like these world travelers do!
For some, the sagebrush landscape is their favorite winter resting spot. All summer Rough-legged hawks spent in the Arctic tundra. Their journey south brings some of them to the western sagebrush landscape. You might see them perched on utility poles, transmission lines, fence posts, and other high ground throughout the winter months.
Other birds have found that sagebrush makes a great home year-round. Perhaps the biggest fan of staycations, the Greater sage-grouse lives year-round in the sagebrush ecosystem. It depends on it for food and shelter. All the same, some Greater sage-grouse migrate up to 100 miles between preferred winter and summer sagebrush habitat.
For all these species, sagebrush is a place to call home. While some might just be temporary residents and others full time, year round you’ll find it teeming with life. So, keep your eyes open to observation and watch how of these birds make their home in this special place!
Fun Fact Friday: Looking for a great home with food included? You’ll find it in sagebrush!
Did you know that sagebrush is one of the most important plants in the western United States? It’s a great food source and secure home for Greater sage-grouse and more than 350 other species that live there.
Even though people don’t eat it, Greater sage-grouse find sagebrush delectable. In the summer, they eat a variety of plants and insects. But starting in autumn, most of their food comes directly from sagebrush. Since Greater sage-grouse don’t have stones in their gizzards to help grind up seeds and nuts, they depend on soft sagebrush leaves to eat.
Greater sage-grouse are true homebodies. They tend to stay near their favorite sagebrush landscapes, and depend on their home to give them food and shelter. But, some Greater sage-grouse migrate in the winter. The longest known sage-grouse migration is 100 miles one way, from Saskatchewan Canada to central Montana. Just like some people who move south in the winter, these sage-grouse fly south to escape snow and find more accessible sagebrush for food and shelter.
And, it’s not just Greater sage-grouse that find home and food from sagebrush. More than 350 species depend on sagebrush for their survival. To name a few, pronghorn antelope also eat the plant, cottontail rabbits use it for shelter, and sage thrashers hide their nests and hunt for insects while under the protection of sagebrush.
Sagebrush landscapes once covered much of the western United States (300 million acres - that’s larger than Texas and California combined!), but now spans just half that area because of habitat fragmentation. As this crucial habitat shrinks and fragments, it becomes increasingly difficult for Greater sage-grouse and other sagebrush-dependent species to survive on the range.
Knowing this, the BLM is working with partners to help conserve this important habitat and keep it as intact as possible. Two ways we’re doing this are by researching Greater sage-grouse behavior to learn more about their habitat and also by harvesting sagebrush and grassland seeds, growing them in nurseries, and replanting them in the ecosystem. These help sagebrush, and that in turn helps Greater sage-grouse and the other species that depend on this landscape for their home.
