Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel pops up

 

A Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus) goes on point. The prairie dog relatives spend much time upright, watching for potential threats. If one is spotted, they will issue a rapid series of squeaking beeps, alerting their brethren, then quickly duck down into one of their burrows.

We visited a colony that I've long known about, in south-central Ohio, this morning. TLGS were a primary target, but temperatures have been abnormally cool around here and it was in the low 50's F when we arrived around 8:30 am. That's a bit chilly for the squirrels, who love temperatures in the 70's, 80's and hotter.

But this site is rich in birds, and we spent much time making images of kingbirds, meadowlarks, mockingbirds, and other species. That was all fun and Shauna and I procured some nice images and had a good time observing interesting behavior in the various species (I am much more of a bird watcher than a birder - at least of the listing type).

Finally, as we were departing around 10:30, with the temperature now about 58 F, this guy shot across the mowed grass, then posed for a bit. Apparently, he was the only one of his clan willing to venture out in the chilly air, even though I know there are a number of others here.

Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrels reach the eastern terminus of their range in Ohio, and their distribution correlates nicely with the pre-settlement distribution of Midwestern prairies. We - people - have been VERY hard on native prairies and probably have destroyed over 99% of it. The charismatic little ground squirrels have suffered as well and are pretty rare in this part of the world these days. I'm grateful that small pockets of the charismatic mammals still persist.