First local sighting for 2019
Columbian Ground Squirrel (Urocitellus columbianus) are just starting to emerge from about eight months of hibernation. Not much of a change going from a dark and cold burrow to a lit and cold landscape 😉 However, March temperatures are slowly revealing the grassland habitat of these small, fourteen inch long mammals.
This animal is classified as a member of the squirrel family, Sciuridae, from the larger Order Rodentia. Roughly forty percent (1702 species) of all mammals worldwide are rodents (Burnie and Wilson 2001). Drilling down squirrel family members comprise 273 species of rodent worldwide of which 66 species are found in North America (Whitaker Jr. 1996).
This particular ground squirrel is easy to identify. It is a grizzled gray-brown above with reddish-orange coloration on the face, nose, chin, chest and legs (Bowers, Bowers and Kaufman 2004). It is also the largest of the ground squirrels. Reid (2006) notes they are social animals forming colonies around a burrow system.
Look for this animal in the states of the Pacific Northwest (Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington) including the province of British Columbia. There are tree squirrels, but there aren’t any ground squirrels found east and south of Ohio.
Montana Field Guide has more extensive information of this species with audio recordings of vocalizations.
