Okanagan Rodents

We very much enjoyed the wealth of wildlife in the Lake Okanagan area of British Columbia. Some idea of of its variety comes from looking at the rodents which happened to get in the way of my camera. The most endearing, by far, were the chipmunks, which scurried around in the dead branches along the paths and climbed the trees to stop and watch us pass. They're small and cheeky: an adult is about 12" from tip of nose to tip of tail.

The columbian ground squirrels were rather more cautious. This is a juvenile which was willing to hang around slightly longer than the adult which was accompanying it.

There were plenty of these both in the woodlands and the gated community in which we stayed. For American red squirrels, this must be an almost perfect habitat.

The hoary marmot is the heavyweight of the Okanagan rodents. Males can weigh in at 5kg and more, and reach a metre in length. We saw them most frequently in the boulders around the houses in the gated community, which many of them looked as if they owned.