The loggerhead shrike is a small, rather innocuous bird occupying the open areas of the high plains. Despite its demure appearance, the loggerhead shrike is a vicious killing machine! It uses anything spiky – barbed wire, thorns on plants, shrubs or trees, – to impale freshly killed insects, lizards, snakes, and even small mammals and Read more about Loggerhead shrike[…]
Standing on the hill at the center of the Ucross’s open range, the sheer geographic size of the place doesn’t fail to impress (especially to two fellows born and raised on the East Coast). Equally impressive and rich in character is Ucross’s history, extending back in time over 100 years. In the far northern pastures Read more about The backstory[…]
By far the most common ungulate — a technical term roughly meaning “hoofed animal”, though not all hoofed animals are ungulates — at the Ucross ranch is the white-tailed deer (Latin name: Odocoileus virginianus). There are actually a variety of white-tail subspecies populations that stretch from the eastern coasts of North America all the way Read more about Ugulates![…]
It’s true that scientific fieldwork includes a lot of time spent assessing particular pieces of land — using GPS units, taking transects, or undergoing another method of data collection. On a place that’s the size of the Ucross Ranch (≈22,000 acres), it’s also true that fieldwork includes a lot of time spent traveling to the Read more about Cruising the ranch[…]
Charlie and Devin were collecting data near the Stone House South pasture in the northern half of the ranch and in quick succession spotted a coyote and a badger den (see photo). This led to some speculating about carnivore competition and interaction, especially since we were near a number of prairie dog ‘towns’ at the Read more about Badgers and coyotes hunting together[…]
For the past week, we’ve been digitally recording bird calls from behind the Raymond Plank Creative Center at Ucross. The recorder (the SM2+ from Wildlife Acoustics) will automatically turn on to record ambient sound every day for 30 minutes before and after sunrise/sunset — thus recording the morning and evening choruses of local bird species. Read more about Recording bird calls[…]
One of the major tasks our field team is tackling this summer is mapping and modeling the distribution of leafy spurge (see earlier post) on the ranch. Its distinct yellow flowers and vibrant green leaves become more and more evident as the plains turn from green to brown in the dry heat of July. It Read more about Targeting leafy spurge[…]
Charlie found this common mullein that is nearly 2 meters tall!
Common Mullen (Verbascum thapsus) is an invasive biennial plant, often referred to as “pioneer’s TP” As it is easily crowded out by native species, it is not of significant ecological or agricultural concern. Common Mullen requires a period of winter dormancy to flower in its second growing season.
Our project website is now live:
We live in an era of globalization, the effects of which are felt in ecological as well as social and economic terms. Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula) is a native of Eurasia that found its way to North America in the early 1800s as a seed impurity. This invasive species is now a major menace throughout Read more about The plight of invasive species[…]
People tend to associate cactus with the deserts of the Southwest, but there is at least one species that’s also found on the High Plains. This is prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa), whose native range actually extends eastward from Wyoming and Montana all the way to New England and south to Florida. The bright yellow flowers Read more about Opuntia humifusa[…]
The availability of water is the major determinant of vegetation and land use on the High Plains. Well-watered valleys like this one feature irrigated cropland and hay fields, and natural and planted stands of cottonwoods, while the surrounding uplands are often bare. But water is becoming increasingly scarce, both as a result of over-utilization of Read more about Water scarcity[…]
