To people unfamiliar with the “sagebrush sea”, the vast basins between Wyoming’s mountain ranges might seem like empty country where nothing but the wind moves. However, a wide variety of animals rely on the sagebrush ecosystem, not just the attention-grabbing greater sage grouse. The sagebrush plant itself provides a foundation to help other plants grow, tying down the soil with its roots, and providing shade from the hot sun. Sagebrush can live over 100 years, greening up each spring, then storing nutrients in its roots that can reach depths of 6 feet.
It’s always a treat to see a swift fox which is a very small fox about the size of a housecat. Burrowing owls don’t actually dig a burrow themselves, but inhabit leftover burrows from badgers or prairie dogs. Pronghorn are found in sagebrush country year-round, while mule deer are usually pushed from the mountains into the sagebrush basins in the winter. Ferruginous hawks and golden eagles can be spotted perched on a rise, scanning for their next meal. Sagebrush voles, pygmy rabbits, and olive-backed pocket mice call the high desert home. Birds include the mountain plover, Brewer’s sparrow, loggerhead shrike, lark bunting, sage thrasher and sagebrush sparrow. Mammals on the wing include the pallid bat. Spadefoot toads, short-horned lizards, sagebrush lizards, tiger salamanders and prairie rattlesnakes round out the amphibian and reptile segment.
Most animals are more active at night in the summer to avoid the blistering sun. All the plants and animals in the sagebrush ecosystem are hardy in order to withstand the immense temperature swings, scarce water, and ever-present wind.
It’s always a treat to see a swift fox which is a very small fox about the size of a housecat. Burrowing owls don’t actually dig a burrow themselves, but inhabit leftover burrows from badgers or prairie dogs. Pronghorn are found in sagebrush country year-round, while mule deer are usually pushed from the mountains into the sagebrush basins in the winter. Ferruginous hawks and golden eagles can be spotted perched on a rise, scanning for their next meal. Sagebrush voles, pygmy rabbits, and olive-backed pocket mice call the high desert home. Birds include the mountain plover, Brewer’s sparrow, loggerhead shrike, lark bunting, sage thrasher and sagebrush sparrow. Mammals on the wing include the pallid bat. Spadefoot toads, short-horned lizards, sagebrush lizards, tiger salamanders and prairie rattlesnakes round out the amphibian and reptile segment.
Most animals are more active at night in the summer to avoid the blistering sun. All the plants and animals in the sagebrush ecosystem are hardy in order to withstand the immense temperature swings, scarce water, and ever-present wind.
Publish Date
Answered By
Leslie Schreiber
Job Title
Sage-grouse/Sagebrush Biologist
Photo
Ask Game ID
178
Node order
133
Parent Node
1135