2003_0897 Richardson's Ground Squirrel
Little rodents are especially vulnerable at this time of year. Hungry after a many months in their dens, they emerge with the first warming days, looking for food. This coincides with the hawk migration, and they are looking for food, too!
Meanwhile, ground squirrels and prairie dogs must scamper across the snow to find open patches of grass; for some it will be their last scamper. About a decade ago we had several wet summers in succession, and the ground squirrel population plummeted. A biologist friend told me they were dying in their dens of pneumonia. As a result, I saw fewer hawks during those years. They will go where the food source happens to be.
2017 and 2018 were drought years in southwestern Saskatchewan. A prairie dog researcher from the University of Calgary told me that in 2018, a lot of prairie dogs were underweight by summer's end, and might not have enough body fat to survive the winter. They will produce smaller litters in such years. Last summer there was good rainfall, the rodents that evaded predation were happy and fat, and I expect to see large litters this year. Will there be rain? No one knows. In a way, the uncertainty makes wildlife photography here exciting; I can't predict how things will unfold. That forces me to simply get out and explore, and half the fun is not knowing what to expect.
Photographed near Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2020 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2003_0897 Richardson's Ground Squirrel
Little rodents are especially vulnerable at this time of year. Hungry after a many months in their dens, they emerge with the first warming days, looking for food. This coincides with the hawk migration, and they are looking for food, too!
Meanwhile, ground squirrels and prairie dogs must scamper across the snow to find open patches of grass; for some it will be their last scamper. About a decade ago we had several wet summers in succession, and the ground squirrel population plummeted. A biologist friend told me they were dying in their dens of pneumonia. As a result, I saw fewer hawks during those years. They will go where the food source happens to be.
2017 and 2018 were drought years in southwestern Saskatchewan. A prairie dog researcher from the University of Calgary told me that in 2018, a lot of prairie dogs were underweight by summer's end, and might not have enough body fat to survive the winter. They will produce smaller litters in such years. Last summer there was good rainfall, the rodents that evaded predation were happy and fat, and I expect to see large litters this year. Will there be rain? No one knows. In a way, the uncertainty makes wildlife photography here exciting; I can't predict how things will unfold. That forces me to simply get out and explore, and half the fun is not knowing what to expect.
Photographed near Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2020 James R. Page - all rights reserved.