Desert Ground Squrirrels

When I recently started to research and write about the round-tailed ground squirrel that I frequently see scurrying about our desert landscape, I was surprised to discover that there are actually THREE separate ground squirrel species native to the area. As it turns out, the chipmunks I've observed and photographed are in fact Harris' antelope squirrels, one of these ground squirrels.

And a bigger squirrel I've mostly ignored is in fact a rock squirrel. More interested in native birds, I assumed he was just a buff-colored variety of the common tree squirrel that populates most American city parks. I don't even have any photographs from my vast library of animal pictures to share.

The round-tailed ground squirrel hibernates in the winter and emerges from his underground den in the spring. Aptly named, all three ground squirrel species live underground, an adaptation to an environment not densely filled with tall trees.

Finally, one of my favorite wildlife photography moments was when I encountered a greater roadrunner with it's prey in its mouth. After an examination of my shots, I identified the unlucky meal as a round-tailed ground squirrel. Any unpleasantness aside, it was a testament to the circle of life that nature and wildlife relies on for its very existence.

And fortunately, while photographing in the same area a week later, I discovered a teaming colony of hungry and playful little squirrels. They seemed oblivious to the important role one of their own had so recently filled in the survival of another species in the wild.