Monday, January 11, 2010

Yellow Bellied Marmot

I had never seen a live marmot until I moved to British Columbia, but now, I look for them anytime I'm near rocks. They are curious and will watch me until I get too close then they scamper into their homes.

Because I worked at a place that had many buildings on the side of a rocky hill, the marmots took  residence there. They loved popping in an out of the crawlspace under each building.

I pulled weeds around the buildings in the summer and they watch me with great interest, even if they hide under the building, they are still watching so I try to leave the weeds they are eating. On hot days, they came out in the morning and lie down next to a patch of weeds. They relax there and eat, then rest, watch me, then eat some more.

One day, I picked a huge pile of weeds and was transporting them in the back of a golf cart to the garbage bin. On top of the pile was a very large tumble weed. I didn't notice but about half way down the hill it rolled off.

I emptied the cart and was returning to gather more when I came around the corner and there in the middle of the road was this giant tumble weed.
Alongside the weed, staring, with great curiosity was a marmot. I guess something didn't look right and it had come to check it out.
I watched while it sniffed and investigated, then it spotted me and ran back to it's hideout.




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