60 NEBRASKAland • JUNE 2017
S
parse vegetation in blowouts may mean a
scarcity of food for cattle and other large
herbivores, but it creates fantastic habitat for
many other animals. Blowouts often draw
animals to their warm sun-heated sands on
cool days, and many birds and mammals use
blowouts as a place for dust baths to clean
themselves and manage parasite loads.
Burrowing animals, ranging in size from
kangaroo rats to tiny sand wasps, tunnel into
blowouts to create nesting and food storage
dens. Maintaining a burrow in an environment
defined by blowing sand must be quite a
task. I've watched sand wasps clean out the
opening of their tunnel, only to have it almost
immediately closed up again by blowing sand.
Above, Left to Right: Punctured tiger beetle (Cicendela
punctulata), big sand tiger beetle (C. formosa), and festive tiger
beetle (C. scutellaris).
Below: A robber fly has just caught a sandy tiger beetle (C.
limbata).
