{"id":15474,"date":"2014-07-22T04:36:14","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T10:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15474"},"modified":"2024-07-19T03:24:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T08:24:04","slug":"richardsons-ground-squirrel-in-northern-montana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/22\/richardsons-ground-squirrel-in-northern-montana\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson\u2019s Ground Squirrel in northern Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Richardson'sRichardson’s Ground Squirrel with a mouthful – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, -0.3 EV, natural light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Every time I see this image of this Richardson\u2019s Ground Squirrel<\/a> in northern Montana I have to laugh because of how full its mouth is. I\u2019m not sure if the vegetation is material to line the burrow for a litter or food because they do eat nuts, seeds, grains and grasses as well as grasshoppers. We don\u2019t seem to have this species of ground squirrel here in Utah but I know that\u00a0they\u00a0are abundant\u00a0in northern Montana.<\/p>\n

Richardson\u2019s Ground Squirrels stand on their hind legs like Prairie Dogs do and have a shrill whistle, they also chirp and chatter.\u00a0 They are native to short grass prairies but because of land being cleared for farming their range has spread and they can even be found suburbs. Richardson\u2019s Ground Squirrels are considered to be agricultural pests because they will eat crop species.<\/p>\n

Pests though they may be, they are a great deal of fun to observe and photograph. I know I just could not resist taking this photo.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Richardson’s Ground Squirrel photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every time I see this image of this Richardson’s Ground Squirrel I have to laugh because of how full its mouth is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[860,12,319],"tags":[4004,1130,320,1631,5071,11562,4045,3826,3827,2315,4331],"class_list":["post-15474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-glacier-county","category-montana","category-richardsons-ground-squirrel","tag-adult","tag-food","tag-gopher","tag-ground-squirrel","tag-ground-squirrels","tag-mouthful","tag-richardsons-ground-squirrel","tag-squirrel","tag-squirrels","tag-summer-3","tag-urocitellus-richardsonii"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/richardsons-ground-squirrel-mia-mcpherson-montana-7502.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-41A","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4603,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/07\/richardsons-ground-squirrels\/","url_meta":{"origin":15474,"position":0},"title":"Richardson’s Ground Squirrels","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Farmers don't like Richardson's Ground Squirrels much, they dig holes that could break the legs on livestock and eat grains and the shoots of plants, I can understand those concerns. But I have to say... I love them, they are fun to watch and photograph.","rel":"","context":"In "Glacier County"","block_context":{"text":"Glacier County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/glacier-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Richardson's Ground Squirrel standing, Glacier County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/richardsons-ground-squirrel-montana-mia-mcpherson-7483.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/richardsons-ground-squirrel-montana-mia-mcpherson-7483.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/richardsons-ground-squirrel-montana-mia-mcpherson-7483.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2021","format":false,"excerpt":"January 21st is National Squirrel Appreciation Day and it recognizes these creatures that some people consider pests while others find them fascinating.","rel":"","context":"In "American Red Squirrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Red Squirrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/american-red-squirrels\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wasatch Mountains Rock Squirrel, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/rock-squirrel-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-5946.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/rock-squirrel-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-5946.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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