Wichita Mountains Prairie Dogs

Prairie dogs are quite shy. When my motorcycle comes slowly (yes, slowly, really!) cruising down the hill by their main village, they immediately go running for their holes. At first I thought I would have to content myself with just taking some pictures of their holes, but then I saw that while I had been moseying around on one side of the road, they had all gone under it and come up on the other side.

I eased my way closer to them, taking pictures with each step I took because I was never sure when they'd spook and disappear again. I eventually got pretty close, within perhaps 10 feet to one of them. It looks as though people have been good about not feeding them and turning them into little parking lot beggars.

As with the bison and the longhorns, it had also recently been birthing season for the prairie dogs. One cute little fellow had either less risk aversion than the others or more of a rebellious attitude against his mother, because even as she sat bolt upright, chirping a continuous warning that some large bipedal mammal was awfully focused on their little town (pun completely intended), he still ventured out to forage even as his siblings stayed tucked in the hole behind mom.