California Ground Squirrel
Citellus beecheyi
These little creatures have a beautiful, speckled coat of fur that provides great camouflage. They are colonial and active during the day. There is a small settlement of them on the gentle-sloping hillside above the creek trail. There are narrow paths marking their travels across the landscape around their burrows .
They have a varied diet that consists of green vegetation, seeds, acorns, mushrooms, fruits, bird eggs and insects. The hillside where they live is pockmarked with small holes they are digging in search for food. I am not sure what they are eating.
They spend most of their time on the ground, but I occasionally see them in trees looking for food or escaping danger. In the last photo below, there was one in a tree along the creek. It was stressed about something happening on the ground nearby and was warning others with a loud chirp.
In the Peterson Field Guide to Mammals, it says that most adults estivate in July or August. Estivation occurs when conditions become hot and dry. To conserve energy they seek cool, shady areas, and they will lower their breathing, heart and metabolic rates. This sounds like a good strategy to cope with the very hot and dry weather we are experiencing at the moment.
With the creek dried up for the summer, I often wonder how animals like these ground squirrels find enough water to stay hydrated.
