While hiking to Lake Helen and Cirque Peak in Banff National Park we came across dozens of these interesting critters. They are very large ground squirrels that are not even remotely shy. We were able to approach very closely before they even bothered to look up. they are very fat, and very cute!
To see some other, and very different images from this trip, please check out my post about it at my other website…
For many years we’ve been taking our summer vacation at my wife’s family cottage west of Ottawa. It’s one of those places that is absolutely magical for me and I feel completely at home there. The cottage is situated alongside a shallow river and the area is home to a massive variety of birds, animals, and insects, and the gardens at the cottage are full of beautiful flowers. It’s a little bit of paradise and I’ve created some of my favorite images while there over the years.
This year was another very productive trip for me. The weather seemed to work out perfectly and I had a great collection of subjects to work with. Here is a gallery of some of my current favorites.
Animals – Gophers – Images by Sean Phillips
I’ve been getting lots of contacts lately about my images of gophers. I think this is partly because it is spring on the prairies and these cute little critters are starting to appear again after a long winter underground. But I think it is even more so because they have been making the news a lot lately in Canada due to their recent designation as Pests in the Province of Saskatchewan. Inclusion in the province’s Pest Control Act means that it is now legal to exterminate these animals along with other pests such as Rats and Grasshoppers.
Although commonly known as gophers, these animals are officially called Richardson’s Ground Squirrels. They are often confused with Prairie Dogs, however that is an entirely different species. No matter what they are called they are very fun to watch and extremely photogenic. I have literally made thousands of images of these funny little critters and I’m always happy to make a few more!
The designation of gophers as pests makes me a little bit sad, because I really do enjoy watching them, but the simple truth is that the prairies are infested with these animals. In the areas where I roam I can scan the ground and see the typical grass and soil conditions in which they live and there are signs of their burrows everywhere. They are especially problematic for farmers because their burrows tend to collapse under the weight of the farm equipment, which can lead to significant damage and expensive repairs, and in areas where the population is particularly dense they can actually ravage the crops simply by eating. Unfortunately this is a man-made problem because our influence has allowed them to thrive on the prairie farmland in several ways: we grow lots of food, such as canola, that they love to eat; we till the ground which makes it easy for them to dig and survive; and we have significantly reduced the populations of their natural predators such as coyotes and foxes.
So does this make them a pest? I guess it does in the eyes of many. But I personally think that they are awfully cute and cuddly too, and I love to share my images of them!
Sometimes you get the shot you want, and sometimes you get the butt.
I was out for a walk at Carburn Park with my son when a herd of about a dozen deer charged out of the woods. I could hear a dog barking off in the distance (in the No Dogs Allowed part of the park) so I can only assume that they were spooked out. When they saw us they froze and obviously couldn’t decide where to go. I tried to make a some portraits but they were still pretty scared and they took off running down the trail. We followed them for awhile in case they stopped, but they slipped off into the woods instead of hanging around for a chat.