December 2022 • Nebraskaland 31
There is surprisingly little written about the habitat use
of blowouts by animals. If you mention blowouts as habitat,
most people immediately think of the blowout penstemon,
or maybe blowout grass. Fewer people can name other plants
that live in or around blowouts, especially those without the
term "blowout" in their titles. There are lots of them, though,
including sandhill muhly, lemon scurfpea and painted
milkvetch. What about animals?
Kangaroo rats might be the best-known inhabitants of
blowouts and other patches of bare sand. Their tracks and
holes are easy to fi nd around the edges of blowouts, where
they venture out at night to gather leaves, seeds and other
Because they are nocturnal, kangaroo rats (below) are
rarely seen during the day but their tracks (above) and
burrowing activity illustrate their strong tie to Sandhills
blowouts.
JON FARRAR, NEBRASKALAND