Tag Archives: nebraska

It’s Spring for Snakes

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The temperature topped 80 degrees F today in the Platte River Prairies.  I heard a frog plop into the water as I walked along a wetland edge.  Red-winged blackbirds were defending territories. 

…and apparently red-sided garter snakes were feeling the spring too.

A small mating ball of red-sided garter snakes. Platte River Prairies, Nebraska. Click on the picture for a larger, sharper image - if you dare.

When I first came upon these garter snakes, there were four of them.  As I neared, the writhing mass of snakes separated, and they all started for me like they thought I was going to give them something to eat.  I have no idea what that was about, but it’s a good thing I’m not afraid of snakes!  As I got my camera out of the truck, the snakes scattered, and one went a different direction from the others.  The other three slithered about 10 feet away and then re-formed their mating ball.  I’m assuming the bigger of the three snakes was the female, but it can be hard to tell.

Apparently, even snakes can have a hard time telling males from females in this kind of mating frenzy.  As garter snakes emerge from their winter dens, males come out first and and lie in wait for females.  When a female arrives on the scene it’s mobbed by a group of waiting males and they writhe around together until a pair finally mates.  Just to make things interesting, though, sometimes males can pretend to be females, and can even exude a female pheromone.  It’s not clear why the “she-males” do this, but there are some theories.  Since newly emerging snakes are cold, and thus slow, it may be that she-males are trying to warm up by attracting a “snake blanket”.  Besides the warmth advantage, being in the middle of a big ball of snakes might be good protection from any nearby predator, who is likely to pick off the snakes from the outside of the ball, not the inside.  On the other hand, it seems like a ball of snakes might attract more predators than a single slow-moving cold snake!

It was a great spring day to be outside.  Apparently, the snakes thought so too!

Photo of the Week – March 9, 2012

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Toadstool Geologic Park is a small public area hidden away in the northwestern corner of Nebraska.  The site is one of the most scenic in Nebraska, but is remote enough that relatively few people visit.  Those who do make the trip can see tracks and fossils of animals that lived in the area 30 million years ago, including camels, rhinos, and others.

Toadstool Geologic Park is part of the Ogalala National Grasslands, administered by the U.S. Forest Service.  The grasslands would be called shortgrass prairie by most of us, but they are technically part of the “shale mixed-grass prairie – characterized by cool season grasses such as western wheatgrass, green needlegrass, and needle-and-thread.  They and other plants, including sego lilies, rabbitbrush, and leafy musineon, grow in dry clay soils that only receive an average about 10-15 inches of rain per year.

One of the reasons I love Nebraska is the variety of landscapes found in the state.  I can travel from the oak woodlands and tallgrass prairies of eastern Nebraska to a place like Toadstool Park in a single day of driving.

There’s an awful lot to explore in between too, and I feel like I’m just getting started.