I don’t know if I’d call a thirteen-lined ground squirrel, (aka, a 13 striped gopher) a friend or not? More like a foe, who lives in a hole right?
I had a close-up chance to see if a squirrel and I could be friends or not.
Here is his front door entry to his little house, on the north side of our house.
This little fellow was mellow enough for me to take some shots (photos) of him while he was sitting in our yard sunning himself. He had ventured to the south side of the yard to warm up in the sunshine.
At first, he was keeping his eyes on Copper (who was on the other side of the yard, oblivious to him, in fact never saw him).
He’s a cute little guy, with pretty stripes, don’t you think? I tried to get close too fast, he started to scurry off when he saw me coming.
Guess he’s shy? Aren’t we all a bit shy when we first meet someone? We can build upon our first meeting by checking the new friend out on Facebook or other social media sites to see if we share things to talk about the next time we meet? We do that don’t we…?
Well, maybe not, that’s a stretch for a squirrel or gopher as a friend. They don’t really have Facebook pages to check out. Jeez! I googled it instead and found this site has great information. Oh, good gracious…for my whole life, I have called these little animals thirteen striped gophers. They are really ground squirrels. Now that I know the truth about the little friend, I won’t make that mistake again. Maybe he’ll forgive me and give me another chance…for a closer picture?
I moved in a bit closer, he paused as he saw me coming. He didn’t run off, he just stayed there hiding in the grass. He’s curious about me too.
I wonder how close I can get? He sees me getting closer, but sticks around and stands up on his hind legs to see what I’m doing.
I wonder if the sound of the camera focusing and clicking made him stick around? He hunches down but keeps peeking through the grass as I walk closer to him.
He stayed there, and let me get really close. Maybe he felt protected by a few blades of grass? Or maybe he wanted to check me out as a friend?
He’s keeping one eye on me and the other one on Copper.
Oops, I got too close, he darted under the deck. But not too far, he’s still curious.
He came back out one more time to see if I was a friend or foe…we decided friends for a moment was enough. He ran off after I got this cute little close-up shot.
A successful EverydayAdventures2017 – Make a new friend day (for a day) with a thirteen-lined ground squirrel.
