Hello everybody and welcome to Episode 15 of What’s in that Hole?, a fun series I’m writing for my blog.
In the last episode, we traveled to San Francisco’s Presidio for our holes. This time, we’re on the road again but much closer to home – I found today’s holes on my recent stop at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, which is between Tucson and Phoenix.
The holes
And here they are! A sampling of today’s holes:
Today’s holes.
As you can see, there are quite a few holes dotting this Sonoran desert landscape. And there were many more to be found on the national monument grounds.
Here’s a closer look at one of the holes:
A closer view.
And here’s a quarter next to one of the holes. I added it to give you a sense of scale. You’re welcome.
I put the quarter there for scale. You’re welcome!
The occupants
So. What do you think is in these holes?
A sign at the picnic area by the parking lot gives us a clue:
A clue!
It turns out that today, “What’s in that hole?” isn’t a very hard question to answer. As the sign suggests, the occupants are round-tail ground squirrels.
Round-tail ground squirrels live in colonies, which explains the dozens of holes I found. They hibernate in the winter, but since it’s already the end of April, they’ve been out of hibernation for a while (in the desert, it’s not uncommon for hibernation to end in February!).
When I took time to look, I realized the little critters are all over the place. This one is on the run:
It’s on the run!
And this one was hanging out at the picnic tables while I was sitting there reading:
Our new friend.
Just hanging out by the picnic tables.
One more photo of our furry friend.
So there you go! Today’s answer to What’s in that hole? is… round-tail ground squirrels!
Hope you enjoyed seeing the squirrels as much as I did. See you next time!
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