22 Nebraskaland • January-February 2022
exclusively or more commonly found during the winter.
Species like meadowlarks and horned larks establish and
defend individual breeding territories during the summer, but
form roving gangs during the winter, providing opportunities
to see lots of them at the same time.
Despite their reputation as harbingers of spring, fl ocks
of American robins also can commonly be seen during the
winter, searching for fruits on eastern red cedar and other
trees. Upland game birds, including northern bobwhites,
ring-necked pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse and greater
prairie chickens, can be fl ushed up in big groups, depending
upon which part of the state you're in.
If you're willing to look a little more closely, smaller animals
are around during these months, too. Walking along the edge
of frozen lakes and wetlands can sometimes reveal animals
either in or under the ice, including numerous insects. Some
of these insects become encased in ice because they died and
then were captured by the freezing water. Others might simply
be in a dormant state, their cells prevented from rupturing by
a kind of natural antifreeze produced by their bodies. If you're
lucky, you might even stumble across frogs moving around
slowly beneath a thin layer of ice, breaking all the rules you
learned in elementary school about cold-blooded animals.
Speaking of surprisingly mobile creatures in cold weather,
a number of invertebrates stay active during the winter, even
on very cold days. Examples include some ants, spiders and
one species of springtail called the snow fl ea. Snow fl eas are
tiny and abundant invertebrates that spend most of their
time feeding on organic matter near the surface of the soil,
including underneath layers of snow. Sometimes, however,
and for reasons yet to be discovered, they'll appear on top
of the snow in large congregations, looking like dirty snow
when viewed from a distance.
Leopard frogs moving beneath ice.
Ant walking on snow.
