Saturday, December 6, 2008

Camera Critters

These little guys are Black tailed Prairie Dogs.


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These photos were taken at Ft. Niobrara NWR. The prairie dog town is the first stop on the auto tour of the refuge. Quoting from the auto tour pamphlet:

On both sides of the road the dirt mounds of a small prairie dog town can be seen. The most widespread of the five species in North America, the black tailed prairie dog, is found in Nebraska and across North America from Canada to Mexico. This town, just as yours, has neighbors called "wards" and family groups called "coteries". Each coterie usually consists of a single adult male, one to four adult females, and any of their offspring less than two years old. Each group defends a territory of about one acre, greeting its own members with a "kiss" and challenging any intruders to a fight. Coyotes, eagles, hawks, owls, rattlesnakes, badgers, and weasels hunt here. The small Burrowing owls also find a home here in an abandoned hole where they lay their eggs and raise their young. Look for them perched on a mound or making low short flights in the town.



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Camera Critters

21 comments:

NoBS said...

Great pictures! These prarie dogs are too cute!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Kayleen: Neat shots of the prairie dogs. I saw them when in Iowa.

Anonymous said...

Wow... you captured the photos very nicely!

My critter is posted here. Have a look if you have the time. Thanks!

Teena in Toronto said...

Great shots!

I played too :)

david mcmahon said...

I'd never seen a prairie dog until a few weeks ago!

Thanks for the lovely comment on my swan shot.

AppleDebbie said...

What cute little prairie dogs! Thanks for the wonderful, informative post!

Anonymous said...

It was fun seeing your praire dogs. They definitely have very interesting social communities to observe and learn from.

i beati said...

First one I've seen in maybe 30 years Sandy

Anonymous said...

Cute little critters...

Unknown said...

I love these little guys! They have great personalities! :)

Anonymous said...

These are beautiful prarie dogs!

Busy Mom in Iowa said...

Awww...they are so cute!! Thanks for visiting my blog!

Anonymous said...

Hi Kayleen, Super captures of the prairie dogs. The best thing about prairie dogs is, you know, they provide habitat for Burrowing Owls ;)

I had to build an artificial Burrowing Owl nest to try to welcome some Burrowing Owls back to my property.

Grammy said...

Great photos.
This is my first time on Camera critters.
Have a great week.
Grammy

Anonymous said...

Look at those faces, how much fun.

Nikki - Notes of Life said...

Great shots! :)

Anonymous said...

Fabulous photos! Thanks for sharing.

Giveaway at my blog this week!

b13 said...

Adorable little critters!

Gretchen said...

How sweet!

Cathy said...

I love watching prairie dogs. Great photos!

Misty DawnS said...

Oh my gosh - they are so cute! You got some fantastic photos of them!