Gopher A Little Closer

Nobody gets in to see the wizard, not nobody, not no how.

Even though I refer to him as "she" during the little video, this projection is a male "thang".

That "she" stuff is just habit when referring to the gophers on my property. Maybe it's because they cruise around here like little land ships and every ship is a she ... yes, I know that's stretching it a bit.

Another sign that "she" is really a "he" is this concave plastron.

Earth moving equipment.

This is a front end loader, the back legs are rounded and make you think of elephant feet.

So, what's the story behind these gopher shots?

I think, and I base this on unscientific casual counting of active burrows on my property, that I have about 8-10 adult gophers in the PFHQ gopherarium.

Young gopherlings show up every year, but they are even harder to spot on a casual walk, so there's no telling how many of them use PFHQ. Often it is Bear that finds them and brings them to me, unharmed, in his gentle Lab mouth.

Generally, I don't see them when Bear and I walk through this area. In the winter, they stay in their burrows for long periods of time. In the summer they are more active, but an encounter is still fairly uncommon.

On this particular warm day after a long cold spell, Bear and I came along just as this gopher was grazng about ten feet from his burrow entrance.

The gopher tucked in as Bear scooted him over the grass, pushing with his nose and trying to get a grip on the rounded shell.

I scooped up the gopher to get it away from Knucklehead and then snatched a few closeups of his parts while I was holding him.

I placed him on his "apron" and then dragged Bear back to the house.

When I returned, the gopher was still there, still mostly tucked in, and still not sure if the giant Slobberosaurus had gone.

It took him a while to make the decision to ... (forgive me) GOPHER it, but eventually he did.

I don't know how well they see. My guess is probably not very well. I was about ten feet away and he stared at me for some time before deciding it was safe to slip down his runway to safety

Ahhh, home sweet home.







Today, it is raining like crazy ... an all day rain ... and the temperature is dropping so I think I won't be seeing any gophers for a while.