Ammospermophilus leucurus

[thomascanty]

Or, White-Tailed Antelope Squirrels. I found a few of these in Calico, California today. These guys are small! About five or six inches long. Cute, too... :D

http://www.ldphotography.net/cdpf/wtas01.jpg
Canon EOS 20D, Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 400mm, 1/400s, f/7.1, ISO 100

http://www.ldphotography.net/cdpf/wtas02.jpg
Canon EOS 20D, Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 390mm, 1/250s, f/5.6, ISO 100

[CyberDyneSystems]

Well that's cute as the dickens!
Great shots,. lovely colors and nicely timed :)

[mrclark321]

Great shot, looks like a Tamias striatus.

[thomascanty]

Great shot, looks like a Tamias striatus.

You had to make me look that up, huh? :)

Actually, I thought it was a Tamias minimus at first. Those are pretty common in our local mountains, and look very very similar. The Least Chipmunks have larger, fluffier tails, though.

[robertwgross]

White-Tailed Antelope Squirrel, I agree.

The purpose of the white tail held the way it is might be considered unique. This is a desert ground squirrel, and it holds its tail that way to act as a white sun umbrella.

Cute little critters.

---Bob Gross---

[mrclark321]

LOL ...sorry could not resist, I had to look up yours!
Where would we be without "GOOGLE"

Dan

[skade]

Awe that is so cute! Great shots!

[RAW]

Awesome shots....thanks for sharing.

[ssim]

What a little cutie. Definitely nice shots. Love the colors and detail that you have.

[sparker1]

Great job, Lonnie. Color and detail are outstanding. I see you are still poking around ghost towns. I haven't been to Calico since 1979.

[cfcRebel]

Cute little fella. Nice shots! Boy, they sure can run fast.

[thomascanty]

As always, thanks for the comments!

I see you are still poking around ghost towns.

It's what I do best. :D Next week I'll be heading back to Northern California, wandering through the ghost towns along or near Highway 49. I think I'll probably also stop by Virginia City again while I'm up there.

Boy, they sure can run fast.

You aren't kidding. They were darting around so quickly I wasn't completely sure if there were three or four of them there. I saw one run across the Calico train station platform and head into a little garden-like area and followed him to find a couple others. I hurried up and put the 100-400 lens on the camera and started snapping away. I got a few dozen shots until a group of Japanese tourists wondered what I was doing and came over to find out. When they saw the squirrels, they started snapping away with their P&S cameras and the flashes spooked the squirrels, who then ran away...

[stoneylonesome]

Great shot! Boy they sure look more like chipmunks then squirrels. I never would have guessed.

[Dannes]

Beautifull!! L-lenses rule!

[TammieO]

Wonderful color and detail. They're so-o-o-o-o-o-o cute!!!