Alone on the mountain top

Gunnison’s Prairie Dog

After hiking 🥾 to 11,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada in search of a bird named the Clark’s Nutcracker…I came up empty. Unbeknownst to me they had moved on in search of the pine cones that make up a majority of their diet. I soon realized what a harsh and unforgiving place the "alpine zone" can be. Although the snows and freezing weather had yet to arrive…the lack of wildlife was immediately apparent. No birds, no bears, no bees. Few animals are capable of handling such a harsh environment. I spent more than an hour searching for something, anything to shoot….then suddenly this little guy appeared. First just a pair of ears and eyes emerging from his underground burrow. A Gunnison’s Prairie Dog. From everything I had read, this guys range was restricted to the four corners region of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona but here he was…all six inches of him. Just staring at me…as surprised to see me as I was to see him. He was so curious and couldn’t help but to come within a few feet of me for a closer inspection. Prairie Dogs usually live on extended colonies of up to several hundred individuals but the little fellow seemed to be all alone. The time spent with him made the grueling high altitude trek well worth it.