Not a great quality pic as I was a good ways away when this little guy chose to head down the tree but a fun capture. I and a bunch of other shutterbugs were focused on much larger wildlife nearby. We all start hearing the sounds of things hitting the ground nearby and, looking up, tree branches are bouncing up and down. A closer look found this squirrel, picking pine cones off the tree, dropping them below and then, eventually, going down to gather them. Pretty clever and much easier than going up and down multiple times. 😉

While standing and waiting for my primary photo subject to do something exciting, this little guy was looking on and kept distracting me. Finally I simply had to take pictures of it as it was so darned cute. These black squirrels are not near as common in Colorado as their rust / brown colored cousins, the Fox Squirrel, so it was pretty cool to be able to see one.

Soon after setting up our first campsite in Jasper National Park, I began hearing this very odd sound – almost like a screeching. Not quite like a bird but also not anything I had heard before. Keeping watch I finally found the culprit – a Colombian Ground Squirrel. They were usually quiet but sometimes, for whatever reason, they could raise quite a ruckus.

They are common in the northern Rocky Mountains and in the coldest parts of their reach, they hibernate the majority of the year. You can read more about them here.

This little guy clearly has been spoiled by visitors to Cherry Creek State Park. With a few shutterbugs gathered taking pictures, the squirrel showed absolutely no fear of humans, walking right up to them and standing up begging for a handout. While he was cute as heck, we managed to resist its charms and it soon moved on to another group.

The Fox Squirrel is the largest tree squirrel native to North America. It is quite common here in the Denver area where it has proven to be very adaptable to urban environments.

This little one was quite the chatterbox as it worked to fill its belly and its nest.  It was busily working its way through a pine tree, tossing pine cones down below to gather later.  I was sitting outside enjoying the quiet but was being interrupted by continual ‘thump’ sounds as the pine cones hit the ground not 20 feet away.

When I went to investigate, the squirrel made it clear in no uncertain terms that the tree and its bounty were its and it would prefer it if I kept my distance.  😉

When I spotted this little guy Saturday, he seemed to pretty well expect breakfast from me as it came sauntering right up. It probably has learned that tourists can be a good source although feeding them does them great harm. I of course only took pictures of it and left it hungry. Notice those crazy long nails on it!

Wyoming Ground Squirrels are medium size squirrels 10 to 12 inches in length. They favor open range land like in the Moraine Park area of Rocky Mountain National Park where this picture was taken.

A fox squirrel peers out from its hiding place. Taken in Denver, Colorado, USA.