OCTOBER 2015 • NEBRASKAland 41
any other North American canid, but
they are highly tuned hunters feeding
on grasshoppers, birds and rodents
like prairie dogs. The kits' survival
over the coming winter will in large
measure be determined by how well
they have learned to hunt and the
quality of native habitat that surrounds
them.
Beaver
Nature's premier water engineer, the
dams, lodges and wetland complexes
that the beaver creates become habitats
for an entire ark of species that span
the food web from tiny aquatic insects
to long and lanky river otters. Beavers
are most active at night, but in the fall
season their constant motion spills
over into the daytime as they begin
to stockpile young cottonwood and
willow branches for food, and bulk up
their engineered infrastructure for the
coming winter.
Coyote
After wolves were extirpated from
the Great Plains more than a century
ago, the coyote became top dog filling
a vital role in the prairie ecosystem.
By late October, this elusive and
highly intelligent canine predator
has put on its winter coat and will
increasingly be seen hunting along
rivers, streams and lakeshores where
migrating waterfowl are beginning to
concentrate, and where small mammals
are building up their caches for the
cold months ahead. ■
A coyote pauses in the timber at Calamus Reservoir Wildlife Management Area in Loup County.
After a nighttime swim, a beaver emerges on the bank of the Platte River in
Hall County.
