The species of amphibians, turtles, and reptiles (known as herpetofauna) of the Sandhills region are similar to other areas of Nebraska and the upper Great Plains. Twenty-seven of Nebraska’s sixty-three species are found there. Yet the individual assemblages of many of these common species have adapted in unique ways to the idiosyncratic landscape called the Sandhills.
I was first introduced to the Sandhills in the mid-1980s as a young man from the woodland forests of New England; I was enthralled with the vastness. I began to search the ecosystem and was soon rewarded with the lizard species commonly found in the Sandhills. Northern prairie lizards were the most abundant, scurrying among the sparse native grasses and diving into the cover of yucca plants. The faster and sleeker six-lined racerunners were amid more dense grasses on the shaded, moister north-facing slopes of the hills. I found the lesser earless lizards in the near naked blowouts and was astonished by the way they would quickly disappear into the fine sand when threatened. A fourth lizard, the many-lined skink, is more common on the southwestern edge of the Sandhills and only found under cover.
Soon after, I discovered one of the eight snake species I frequently encounter gliding across the sand, the North American racer, a slender, smooth-scaled speed demon. I’ve captured hundreds of racers across Nebraska and the eastern U.S. Those found in the Sandhills are gorgeous, possessing a bright velvety green on top with a stunning yellow underside; most others have a drab olive or blue-green coloration. Something about the Sandhills makes these lizard-eating snakes stand out like no other racer. As a curious herpetologist in a new ecosystem, I customarily would begin by lifting rocks, logs, and stumps to find my secretive targets. When I landed in the Sandhills I gazed north, east, south, and west, and all I could see was a vast breadth of spectacular landscape with nothing to flip and look beneath. After searching for a few hours and turning over about a dozen pieces of lumber and old tires, I exposed a western milksnake. It was only about eighteen inches long, and unlike any milksnake I had ever caught before, it had diminished reds and wishy-washy white bands. It was the obscure pale milksnake, a subspecies, or morph, primarily found in the Sandhills. Milksnakes are small-lizard eaters. In years to come I would find dozens of them and learn that in the absence of human-made cover they would be found under dead yucca plant roots.
The plains hognose snake is a short, stocky, light-colored lizard feeder. I usually locate them at dawn or dusk when they are rooting at the base of forbs and trying to pop up an unsuspecting lizard before the heat of the day makes lizards impossible to catch. Likely the utmost lizard eater and most reclusive snake of the Sandhills is the glossy snake (Arizona elegans), a secretive snake that remains under the loose sand and generally emerges before dawn to hunt down cooled lizards. While commonly found in extreme southwestern Nebraska (Dundy County), only two have been revealed in the Sandhills, one by Joe Gubanyi in Thomas County (1987) and a second in Hooker County (2016) that I verified. I consider the glossy snake populations of the Sandhills my personal holy grail.
I consider the bullsnake preeminent of all Nebraska’s snakes. Growing to more than eight feet in length, it has mastered the art of rodent predation, feeding on pocket gophers, kangaroo rats, prairie dogs, and small rabbits. They are so efficient a predator that they outcompete other snakes, forcing them to relocate. This action
triggered the false lore that bullsnakes eat rattlesnakes. The bullsnakes of the Sandhills are generally lighter in color and possess more sandy yellow markings. Prairie rattlesnakes, the region’s only venomous snake, were purportedly as common as bullsnakes a couple hundred years ago before the dramatic decline of prairie dog towns. The majority of Sandhill prairie rattlesnakes hibernate, give birth, and mate in the prairie dog towns. They are noted to travel upward of a mile searching for summer feeding grounds. Their fidelity to prairie dog towns renders rattlesnakes habitually to be found closer to the lower clay soil features of the Sandhills. Prairie rattlesnakes are one of my most beloved snakes; after capturing and releasing hundreds over the years, I have nothing but respect and admiration for these diminishing members of the biodiversity of the Sandhills.
The Sandhills is home to six species of turtles and can be considered the epicenter of three special species: Blanding’s, ornate box, and yellow-mud turtles. The semiaquatic Blanding’s turtle is a lover of fens and pothole ponds. Data indicate there are more of these endangered turtles in the Sandhills of Nebraska than any other location. A terrestrial turtle, the ornate box turtle is commonly sighted crossing roads and trails. These omnivorous creatures feed on insects, grubs, and baby mice by burrowing under dried cow patties and humps of grass; I suspect they used bison dung piles in the past. Before hibernation they switch their diet to the vitamin C–packed rose hips and prickly pear cactus fruit numerous on the ground in autumn. Yellow mud turtles have one of their two isolated populations in the Sandhills aquatic areas (the other is in southwest Nebraska). This small (less than 6 inches), oval, long-lived turtle deposits just one or two eggs annually, a factor in its small population numbers; another is that their eggs are a favorite of the plains hognose snake.
While deemed a dry location, the Sandhills’ artesian weeping groundwater creates an unusual haven for several amphibians. The western tiger salamander is the only salamander species in the Sandhills, and its larvae are extremely prevalent in the interim sloughs, fens, ranch ponds, and cattle tanks. This long-lived amphibian spends decades in moist mammal burrows, only emerging during spring rains to trek to temporary bodies of water for reproduction. Additionally, I have encountered sexually mature larval forms, known as neotenic, in permanent water situations. My research indicates this species is especially adapted to the alkalinity of Sandhills
Prairie rattlesnakes are an icon of the West. Detested and feared by many, they provide a wide array of ecosystem services that go largely unnoticed. Photograph by Dakota Altman, Platte Basin Timelapse. Used with permission. water; its cousins, the eastern tiger salamanders, spotted salamanders, and small-mouth salamanders, cannot tolerate such high alkalinity levels.
Of the eight frogs and toads found in the Sandhills, the Great Plains toad and the plains spadefoot are especially well adapted. Both toad species are well-suited for sandy short-grass prairie that receives precipitation in a few massive events. Explosive reproducers, these toads emerge from their sand grottos during spring and summer thunderstorms to sing, mate, and lay eggs. Their eggs will hatch, and larvae will transform into miniature adults all within a week’s time. I’m especially fond of the imaginative characteristics of the plains spadefoot: their ability to stare at you with wide eyes while slowly disappearing backward into the sand, the male’s sheep-like bellowing call, and the larvae’s tendency to become cannibalistic.
The rivers and lakes of the Sandhills are haunts for the micro-sized chorus frogs and leopard frogs. These permanent waters have also been invaded and occupied by bullfrogs. Invasive bullfrogs are devouring native frogs, baby turtles, and young waterfowl. My plea is to initiate programs to stop these intruders from changing the biodiversity of the Sandhills.
In a short time, the Sandhills developed into my nirvana. In the summer of 2020 I conducted my data collection solo, spending a week at a time camping in the Sandhills, not seeing another human the entire duration. Just me and the astonishing biodiversity of the Sandhills, it was magnificent as I was in my happy place.