Joann Merritt's Essays

Signatures In The Sand
May, 2000

The continuing drought + cleared acreage north of our place + persistent high winds = miniature dunes. These dunes have created a venue whereby various critters can tell their story by leaving their signature tracks in the sand.

Don and I quickly recognized he deep tracks made by Western Box Turtles as they plod to their destination as well as the obvious tell-tail routes of Southern Prairie and Side-blotched Lizards as they chase insects. A mouse evidently scurried to safety since we see his tiny tracks but no signs of a confrontation. The canine tracks could have been made by a Gray Fox we occasionally see and hear at night or just a neighborhood dog- can a dog be a copy cat? A raccoon’s “baby handprints” trail back and forth to the mulberry tree. A snake slalomed through the dunes while a similar contoured furrow with footprints was probably made by a Great Plains Skink’s heavy tail dragging in the sand.

Representing the insect family are Antlions, who as adults resemble damselflies, but are better known while in their larval stage as doodlebugs. Everyone is familiar with the funnel-shaped pits they dig, but we discovered that some species of doodlebugs simply burrow just beneath the sand where they lie in wait for an ant or other small insect to come by. Their small burrows push up the sand but do not break the surface and have no entrance or exit that we could find. An Audubon Field Guide verified that doodlebugs use both methods to capture prey. This was new information for us.

Beetles of various sizes etch their tracks in the sand. We observe busy Red Harvester Ants who leave no trace of having been there, the sand remains smooth and unruffled. However, near the ant bed entrance where the ground is firmer their visible trails converge like spokes of a wheel to the hub. An unknown critter makes a shallow furrow about l/2 inch wide with a fringe of tiny tracks which prompts me to agree with Donna that I may not want to decipher all these signatures in the sand. One can only surmise about the comings and goings of some of these nomadic wanderers.

We see where quail have paraded like fashion models by placing one foot directly in front of the other as they meander through the dunes. The Roadrunner, who has been referred to as Devil Bird because you don’t know in which direction he’s leading you, makes his figure X’es with each step. Some birds hop and peck, some walk or run while still others stop occasionally to scratch their signatures.

Grasses, twigs and other vegetation form interesting patterns in the sand when whipped to and fro by the merciless wind. Even a rain shower leaves evidence of its presence. One night in April small raindrops spattered the sand artistically producing an intricate lacy mantle over the dunes.

Periodically a giant eraser from the skies huffs and puffs, obliterating nature’s story that has been written in Don’s Dunes. Midnats have accepted the name Merritt Mountain so we submit the name Don’s Dunes. You’re invited, let’s get tracking!