P-Dogs a-Plenty…by Brad Marks

Down three posts and coming to the end of July. You are likely going to get some rapid fire posts in large part thanks to Brad, as I am still working through the first phase of the ankle surgery recovery – I thought I would be keyboard warrioring it over the entire 5 week no-weight period, but so far, still getting adjusted to this boat anchor. Once simple tasks are turning out to be a test of my strength and/or will. I did absolutely laugh out loud the other day (something I needed). Last year I ran my last Bix7 road race putting a cap on 20 straight years of toeing that line (link here). Linda relayed a funny scene she witnessed when had made it to the top of the Brady Street hill (she opts for the walker option). A lady and her ~7yr old kid had just made it to the top near her when she noticed the kid was basically balling. The mother notices and responds “I am sorry, I didn’t prepare you mentally, physically or spiritually to make it up that hill”. I’ve been meaning to write a story on the mothership about this scene as it is shockingly antithetical to the manner in which Linda, my brothers and I were raised. That quote has been attached to my monitor ever since then. And there I was, leaning on my crutches looking down at the 6 inch ledge to our shower. That quote had a completely new and profound meaning hehehehe! Tasks are getting easier each day – dealing with this mentally for another 5 weeks is going to be tough. While I push through, Brad is going to “Let the Dogs Out (who?, who?, who?)”.

Take it away Brad…

For regular readers of Wildlife Intrigued, at first this story will seem like a departure from the norm, meaning no feathers.  When you see what I have in store for you, forgiveness may be in order.  Wildlife Intrigued does include all types of wildlife, feathers or not.

Jan and I were visiting the Wildlife Intrigued Rocky Mountain editorial staff (our daughter Allyson) when we found ourselves with a half day to spare.  Shhh, don’t tell the bosses.  A quick review of available birding locations revealed an obvious choice not very far from the hotel where we were staying.  Nice save going birding in our free time, don’t you think?  The other advantage of having a half-day free is that we could use our daughter Allyson’s Honda CR-V while she was working.  It sure is nice to have the younger generation working to help support the older, newly retired, generation.  Truthfully, other than camping or ski trips on weekends, her car does not get used very often and it seemed to enjoy being out on the road. 

For those that aren’t familiar with the 2004-2006 model year Honda CR-Vs, they have built-in picnic tables as the floor of the cargo area.  This is one of the best features EVER offered in a car for active people.  Once you are at a camp site, picnic site, or ski mountain base parking lot, and have most of the cargo area unloaded, simply remove the cargo floor, extend the legs, and Voila!  Instant picnic table.  There is also a hole in the middle of the table if you have an umbrella (sold separately) for sunny locations.  I’ve told the Honda people they are losing sales to younger buyers because they took this feature out in 2007.  Honda, if you are reading this, put the picnic table back in the CR-V.

OK, back to the regularly scheduled story.  After driving for about a dozen miles and only getting lost once or twice (not quite sure about map apps sometimes) we found our destination:  Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Preserve (RMANWP).  Yes, even the acronym is a mouthful.  I know, the “arsenal” doesn’t conjure up images of cute furry or feathered things.  However, that’s exactly what Jan and I found, at least the small furry kind.  I’ll try not to overload our dear readers with cuteness.  Fair warning:  If you are susceptible to cute-furry overload, please only read between the photos.

We are serious, if you are overly sensitive to cuddly wildlife images…do NOT hit the jump … something tells me you are going to do it anyway ha!

The Arsenal was a humongous WWII era chemical weapons factory.  Fortunately, hardly anything remains from those days.  Nearly 16,000 acres of the original land have been set aside and returned as closely as possible to a natural setting.  So much so, that there are more than a few prairie dog towns (nearly a metropolis in one case) throughout the preserve.  I’m going to guess that 20-25% of the preserve could be prairie dog towns.  There is also a herd of bison with brand new young ones at RMANWP.  The bison herd was too far away to see clearly both times we visited on this trip.  Jan and I counted 30 species of birds without trying very hard.  Notice I said counted and not necessarily photographed; some of them never stop moving and never flew in a straight line.  Swallows, you know who you are.

The driving trail we took is called Wildlife Drive, though we didn’t see any wildlife actually doing the driving.  The Drive is mostly one-way.  On either end, before and after the bison guards, traffic is bi-directional, but we rarely saw anyone going the opposite direction on the road.

A few hundred yards into the drive there were a few cars parked along the road.  The plains on either side were lush and green (the advantage of a very wet spring) and dotted with small brown mounds of dirt.  In a flashback to an earlier version of this story (from another state – link here), I heard an insistent, “Brad Brad Brad Brad, stop the car!”  While I was safely slowing and pulling off the edge of the road onto the gravel, Jan’s window was rolling down and she was maneuvering the camera out the window for better photographs.  One of the rules of Wildlife Drive is that once visitors pass the first bison guard, they are NOT allowed to get out of their vehicles, no matter how much they want to win a Darwin Award.  While prairie dogs aren’t much of a threat, bison and coyotes certainly can be.

Off in the distance were two prairie dogs giving the best kind of greeting:  a P-dog hug.

Black-tailed Prairie Dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are very social animals.  They greet each other, and often individuals from other groups, with hugs, nuzzles and “kisses”.  No, I’m not making this up.  Jan and I have witnessed this behavior on many occasions.  One time, even the pups all seemed to get excited when another adult approached their den entrance and started yipping.  The adults greeted with a hug, exchanged a few closely held yips, then separated.  Then the new P-dog ran to another den to repeat the same process.  The local gossip perhaps?

With P-dogs chattering like crazy all around us, we decided to leave the car windows rolled down to enjoy the chorus.

Jan captured the “Wahoo”, or jump yip, a couple of times.  Frankly, these P-dogs were so happy to see each other they were Wahoo-ing all the time.  Some think this is an exuberant greeting.  Others think it’s part of the all-clear signal.  I just think it’s cute.  Speaking Prairie Dog is a 500-level course at Intrigued, and is only available once I’ve mastered all of the birdcall courses.

As we drove along, I could see the prairie dog network signaling ahead of approaching cars (warning call), though all of the prairie dogs were well away from the road.  After carefully watching the rearview mirror, while keeping my eyes on the road ahead at 15 MPH, I saw the all-clear signal (Wahoo) rolling like a wave behind us.

A year ago, near another park on the way to Fort Collins, we saw new pups.  Those were less socialized and would scurry off before we could bring the cameras to focus on them.  Not so with the P-dogs at RMANWP.  These seemed to be very acclimatized to cars moseying along on the roads.

The pups at RMANWP seemed to be very chill.   The cool ground must feel good on a warm summer day.

In spite of their extreme cuteness, ranchers very strongly dislike (didn’t want to use the H-word) prairie dogs.  Rural legend says that horses and cattle would easily step into their den openings, often breaking a leg; though this seems to happen less frequently than advertised based on what I’ve read.  Ranchers also fear live stock will have to compete with the Prairie dogs for grazing, which is partly true, depending on the density of cattle and prairie dogs in a given space.  Bison seem to have adapted quite well to sharing prairie space with prairie dogs.  Prairie dogs act as the gardeners of the prairie.  Keeping the foliage trimmed around their dens leads to more greenery growth.  Prairie dogs also work the soil by scratching up the surface, indirectly encouraging further plant growth, similar to how bison hooves influence the prairie.  Not to mention there are literally tons of bison poop/fertilizer left behind.  Prairie dogs can also carry diseases (unwittingly) that may be transmitted to cattle, which can turn into a bad day for the cows.

Prairie dog pups are born underground in litters of 2-8 pups.  The pups begin to explore above ground at about six weeks old under close adult supervision. 

During the 1900’s, their overall population declined nearly 95% because habitat destruction, disease, and predation.  One U.S. state had purposely eliminated all of them but has begun a slow reintroduction.  Even with all of the ways humans are trying to get rid of prairie dogs for housing developments or ranching projects, they currently have a rating of Least Concern.  This is good news for coyotes, hawks, badgers, foxes, bobcats and weasels.  Burrowing Owls have been known to take over a Prairie Dog den if they think it is unoccupied, or even if it is.  P-dogs are considered a keystone species, benefiting about 150 other species of plants and animals.  Lastly, Prairie Dogs aren’t really dogs, they are squirrels.  They are classified with marmots such as chipmunks or groundhogs.  Though the name Prairie Squirrels doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.

We have reached the end.

Thank you for reading.  If you want to see more Black-tailed Prairie Dog photos, please visit here.

Credits

Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing.  Thanks to Jan for many of the photos in this story.