Otospermophilus variegatus
Rock Squirrels are large squirrels that have speckled grayish brown coats, long brushy tails with white edges, pointed ears that rise above their heads and dark eyes with white rings around them.
I got out for about 30 minutes yesterday because the weather forecast was wrong, again. When I found my first-of-year Rock Squirrel, the sun was shining bright.
Yesterday, during a light rain, I looked out of my living room window, and to my surprise, I had a close-up view of a Rock Squirrel right next to the house.
I have a backlog of spring images to go through, including photos of a Rock Squirrel and a blade of grass from the end of April.
Two days ago when I was at a local park with my friend and yours, April Olson, I spotted a Rock Squirrel. Then I saw three more nearby and I had to take photos.
Almost three years ago, I photographed this Rock Squirrel perched in top of a juniper in the foothills of some sky island mountains in the West Desert of Utah.
Almost two weeks ago I took a series of images of this young Rock Squirrel near its burrow next to a dusty dirt road high in the Wasatch Mountains.
January 21st is National Squirrel Appreciation Day and it recognizes these creatures that some people consider pests while others find them fascinating.
The Rock Squirrel was grasping a sumac branch and the shrub was so close to me I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to focus on it.
I spent the morning up in the Wasatch Mountains yesterday where one of the furry creatures I saw and photographed was a Rock Squirrel on a lichen encrusted boulder.
A soft blue sky, a juniper and a Rock Squirrel made me pretty happy two days ago because I don't have these squirrels in my viewfinder nearly as often as I'd like to.
In mid August I was attempting to get close up photos of a Rock Squirrel that was actively feeding on serviceberries in the Wasatch Mountains and two things happened that ruined my chances for better images.
While up in Mercur Canyon I caught a flash of browns and grays on top of a rock and realized I was seeing the Rock Squirrel I photographed on the same slope last month.
I didn't have much luck at all with birds yesterday in the west desert canyons but I did spot and photograph a Rock Squirrel in Mercur Canyon.