RICHARDSON GROUND SQUIRREL (Citellus richardsonii elegans)
A pale brown squirrel with a relatively short tail and a characteristically stiff, erect posture on occasion, which alone is enough for identification. Total length about 11 inches. Widely distributed in the west and formerly called Wyoming ground squirrel or picket-pin gopher in the southern Rockies. It is not a gopher.
These gregarious little fellows so frequently seen, alert and erect along the roadsides, have invaded the flat mountain meadows from the lower foothills. Living in colonies somewhat like prairie dogs (not found in this region), their groups of small mounds are often scattered in the grass near fields that have been cultivated to hay crops.
Marmot
Chickaree
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel