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What It Feels Like For a Ferret Watcher

10,000 Birds

If we get close enough we might see a pink maw and slivers of white teeth, ready to take a prairie dog by the throat and choke the life out but also rather perversely adorable. Ferret 492 — a black-footed ferret, Mustela nigripes — raises her head from a black-tailed prairie dog’s burrow, sniffs the April night.

Ferrets 228
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Introducing the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge

10,000 Birds

Russell National Wildlife Refuge , more than a million acres of prairie, badlands, coulees, and the massive Fort Peck Reservoir on the Missouri River. The soil is heavy with clay, great for holding prairie dog burrows but not so wonderful for making unsurfaced roads that stand up to the weather.

Wildlife 241
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Forgotten Prairies

10,000 Birds

Ferruginous Hawks are native to our western short-grass prairies and their diet comprises almost completely of prairie dogs. Well, the ongoing issues of land development, sport shooting, and the rancher’s war on these animals keeps prairie dog populations from ever booming. Not too bad eatin’, huh?

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The Rusty Squirrel-Hawk AKA Ferruginous Hawk

10,000 Birds

I took a ride up to the Fall River Valley back in October and spotted both morphs in the large grasslands where we also usually see Rough-legged Hawks and Prairie Falcons. They are often seen on the ground since their prey consists mainly of rabbit, prairie dog and, you guessed it, ground squirrel. This is the light morph.

Squirrels 194
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The “Birds” in the Brush

10,000 Birds

Ground squirrels, to those who are not used to them, are more curious beasts, caught in a taxonomic middle ground between the larger marmots and prairie dogs and their smaller chipmunk cousins. The chipmunks, well, they all are fairly chipmunk-esque: small, stripey, and shrill.

Chipmunks 240
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What is the National Bird of Aruba?

10,000 Birds

These owls use the tunnels of other species as their nesting burrows, and so can be found associated with ground squirrels, tortoises, and prairie dogs. They are fairly small owls , standing around eight inches tall and weighing a little more than five ounces.

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Quote of the Week

Critter News

"I watched prairie dogs every day, rise before the sun, stand with their paws pressed together facing the rising sun in total stillness for up to 30 minutes," says Williams.