Lauren's Life Book

Uinta Ground Squirrel (Urocitellus armatus)

Uinta ground squirrel (Urocitellus armatus)

This ground squirrel was seen hanging out on a boulder with some lichens on the Cub Lake Trail in the Rocky Mountain National Park on the afternoon of June 11th. This squirrel was crawling around where the yellow-bellied marmot and the Cassin's finch were located. You can read more about these ground squirrels here.

Least Chipmunk (Neotamias minimus)

This chipmunk was seen at Cub Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park, on the afternoon of June 11th. While I was enjoying a lunch of homemade sunflower nut butter and some bread, this chipmunk came right up to me. I didn't notice it until it crawled under my legs and touched my ankle before it proceeded to eat some of my sunflower nut butter off the lid of the container. You can read more about these chipmunks here.

Yellow-bellied Marmot (Marmota flaviventris)

This marmot was seen on the Cub Lake Trail in the Rocky Mountain National Park on the afternoon of June 11th. I was really excited to see this ground squirrel because I have been trying to see once since I moved to Colorado. Even though they are considered a ground squirrel, don't let it fool you- they can get up to 11 pounds. This one was seen engaging in conspicuous behavior, staring me down as seen in the pictures. This is because there were babies also under the boulder. I didn't see them, but my hiking buddy Randi did. She is lucky, I would have loved to have seen them. These marmots are usually only found over 6500 feet, and they also hibernate over the winter. You can read more about them here, and more about hibernation here.

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis)

These sheep were seen in the Rocky Mountain National Park in the afternoon of June 11th. There was a herd of these sheep near a lake somewhere in the park. The pictures aren't that great, but neither is the zoom on an iPhone. I've never seen bighorn sheep in the wild- check another one off the list of ungulates only found in the Rocky Mountains (this subspecies anyway). This sheep is the state animal of Colorado, and you can read more about them here.

Rocky Mountain Elk (Cervus canadensis nelsoni)

A herd of elk was spotted in the Rocky Mountain National Park on the afternoon of June 11th. There were several elk in the area, but this is the only picture that turned out decent enough to put on here. Elk in the rocky mountains are interesting because of their issues with chronic wasting disease- a transmissible prion disease. You can read more about elk here, and more about prion diseases here, and more about chronic wasting disease here.

Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia)

This magpie was seen crossing the road in the Rocky Mountain National Park. I love these birds because they are blueish and have really long tails, so they are fun to look at. These birds are only found it the west, and according to wiki, they are only one of four songbirds in North America who's tail makes up half or more of its body length. They construct really large nests, which you can see here. You can also read more about this bird here.

Cassin's Finch (Carpodacus cassinii)

I saw this Cassin's finch in the Rocky Mountain National Park on the weekend of June 11th, sometime in the afternoon. We were hiking the Cub Lake Trail when I heard this bird before it was seen. We had to narrow down where exactly the bird was based off of sound, and that was pretty cool to do. The bird's song was like a house finch's, but modded, and this was what tipped me off to the fact that it was a finch of some sort, I just wasn't sure which one until I found the bird. Even then, I had to whip out the trusty Sibley's Guide to ID this bird because I have never seen a Cassin's finch before. There were several other birds and creatures seen on this hike, so look for more posts. For now, you can listen to the Cassin's finch here, see a short video of Cub lake here, and read more about the near threatened conservation status of this bird here.

Thursday, June 30, 2011