Belding Ground Squirrel, Harney County, Oregon
Copyright © 1996, Don Baccus (dhogaza@pacifier.com)
Copyright © 1995, Don Baccus
All images copyright © 1995, Don Baccus
Belding ground squirrels are common, colonial rodents of fields and other open spaces. They are easily recognized, being plain brownish-gray, short-tailed, and fond of sitting straight up, often at the entrance to their burrow.
They can form huge colonies, with heavily populated fields containing hundreds or thousands of individuals. Such concentrations lure large numbers of raptors, as at the "Raptor Alley" portion of the Narrows-Princeton Road. And the colony at the Malheur Refuge Headquarters provides food for the pair of great-horned owls which often roosts there. Belding ground squirrels are also an important food source for badger.
As "raptor bait" goes, these critters are downright cute. They usually head straight for their burrow or other cover once they realize your big telephoto is swinging their way. You can fool them by quietly sitting with your lens trained on a burrow exit, and photograph them when they emerge.
The colony at the Malheur Refuge Headquarters is fairly tolerant of people. I don't photograph these critters at headquarters, though, as there are too many distracting birds and birders who know me there. There's a rest stop about twenty miles west of Burns on Highway 20. For the traveller from Central Oregon or western Oregon and Washington, this rest stop is a great stop, with good birding. It also has a colony of Belding ground squirrels bordering the east side of the parking lot. Low cover provides that secure feeling they cherish, and tourists with candy and other junk food acclimatize them to the human form, so this is where I normally go to photograph them.
The vast colonies along "Raptor Alley" and the bording the nearby town of Crane are my favorites, though, for the vast numbers of raptors they attract.