Friday, April 10, 2009

Help me identify this mysterious blonde!





I put out my camcorder and caught a little bit of her- some sort of ground squirrel? not native to Redding, CA! about 18" long, 600' elevation, diurnal, lives in a burrow. Note coloring, ears, tail. Thanks!


9 comments:

Mike Hudson said...

Is that a woodchuck or a juvenile beaver? Maybe some type of marsupial (sp?).

Unknown said...

definitely not a beaver or marsupial. We don't have any woodchucks native here and the body shape is probably too thin, though I do see the resemblance. Thanks though.

Anonymous said...

Looks like a prairie dog, though 18" is really big.

Deborah Bezanis

David Ray said...

Could be the elusive mountain beaver.

Unknown said...

he does resemble a prairie dog, but we don't have those anywhere near here. Elusive Mt Beaver? Someone else suggested it might be a snipe.

Anonymous said...

I'd think, with that tail, it must be some sort of ground squirrel. The ears and tail are wrong for a prairie dog.

Dave Wright

Barbara said...

I'm going to go with albino ground squirrel.

Check out the image at this address and see what youthink:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1103337675048982703BQGCKE

Unknown said...

the coloring is pretty similar, Barbara. Mine doesn't have pink eyes, but close enough.

Anonymous said...

I sent the link over to ca dept of fish and game. two of the biologists looked at it and said that it is definately and interesting creature. Its gait says it is a ground squirrel. it is not big enough to be a marmot plus too low of an elevation. They said it is albinized which means it is not pure albino but has albino traits hence the normal eyes. they thought it was pretty cool. So i guess runners do slow down enough to smell the roses and the wildlife. doug