Last week Deanna sent Christian and I to the Pawnee National Grassland for a couple of days to help out with their burrowing owl and prairie dog surveys. For those who don't know, prairie dogs are a very important part of the grassland ecosystem because they build extensive "towns" of burrows that provide shelter to various other animals, like burrowing owls. They are also an important food source for hawks, coyotes, and foxes.
Here is a typical prairie dog burrow.
This guy's keeping a watchful eye out for danger.
These are pronghorn, unique American antelope. They're very skittish.
Normally you just see their butts as they're running away from you.
Basically the Pawnee is a lot of rolling, grassy hills. It's quite a contrast from the mountains. You can see storms coming from miles away.
There's a little water, but not much.
Check out this awesome praying mantis. He threatened me with his little alien-like arms.
And now, I leave you with a typical Pawnee traffic jam.
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