Pocket gopher, Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley,Ca.

This little fellow kept sticking his head out from his hole and back into it very rapidly. I'm not sure if he was reacting to we human's presence or something else. I really lucked out on this shot, I snapped it at the exact right moment.

Pocket gophers spend most of their lives in their burrowes. The loose soil you see around the entrance is part of the mound this one built. They have pockets on the outside of their cheeks where they stuff seeds, plant matter and other food they want to carry back to the safety of their burrowes. They watch out for red tailed hawks and other predators. Gopher snakes will prey on them, or sometimes just take up residence in a tunnel that a gopher has abandoned for one reason or another.

Beautiful day at Tildren. We're into the time of late spring wildflowers - wild roses, sticky monkey flowers, columbine. I did see some blue eyed grass and buttercups which I think of as growing earlier in the season... I guess it's been warm enough for them to stick around.