When I was stationed in San Diego I observed both Ground Squirrels and Pocket Gophers quite closely. Our yard backed up to an empty field behind a church and the place was overrun with both types of critters. When I was 10 I spent the summer in Canada with my grandparents and observed Chipmunks even more closely as my grandfather had them trained to climb into his shirt pocket to get sunflower seeds. they would drag stuff off my paper plate while I was eating at the picnic table. Pocket gophers are different from ground squirrels and munks. The ground squirrel bears a resemblance to the munk only in that it has stripes on its back but the two species are not the same color and the GS gets quite a bit larger than the munk. I also observed that the ground squirrels would attack birds that strayed too close to their tunnel entrances and try to drag then into their burrows. The implication to me is that they are not averse to adding a little fresh protein to their diets. This observation also answered the question of why there seemed to be an abnormal number of 1 legged or footed birds around. The pocket gophers were an absolute menace to our vegetable garden and I watched one day while one of them tried to pull a young pumpkin vine into its burrow. Being a southeastern boy I tried to flood them out and once ran the hole full blast into a hole by the patio. It ran for over an hour and water never surfaced out of any of the other holes. I gave up on that technique. A combination of Mole traps and a pellet gun kept the population down a little but there were too many gopher mujahideen who came from the church yard to continue the battle for our garden. The fighting never stopped and I'm sure continued when the new tenants took possession of the back yard and garden plot.

Hi, I'm another slider, originally from PA, lived in KS for a couple years, now in NC. Your dogs are very cute! I have a cute boston terrier. I used to hang out more on gardening forums but it hurts too much to get out and work a lot now. I love this forum and I think you will too. Welcome!

Hi, Pat, Here is what I own and use: The Crossley Guides are really desk guides because they are so big and heavy. I like Sibley as a field guide, even though I rarely take it outside. Over the years as a bird watcher and photographer, with technology changing from film to digital, my pattern of inquiry has changed. Now, I shoot (with my camera) everything in sight and ask questions later. That way I don't have to carry a book. I like the Sibley. I bought the Crossley guides because I wanted a guide specifically for raptors and got a $ break on Amazon for buying both guides together. Crossley Sibley The layout and info given in the Sibley appealed to me more than the other guides when I was searching for a new one. My first guide is an Audubon, copyright 1977. Jane (My best canine buddy was half Samoyed, half Malamute named Holly. God, I loved that dog!)

The cat would not go in my traps, and now I don't know where she is. I haven't seen her in months. Probably eaten by an owl,along with her babies. I did catch a fox and a raccoon. Neither were pleased... There are no free spay/neuter programs here and none that are reduced rate that are not obnoxious. But i did try to trap her. I can't be in a car with cats because my eyes swell shut but my sister would have driven her to the vet for me. It's easier just to pay for it myself. Trapped this one at work the other night for a truck driver. He said he would have it fixed and he and his wife wanted to attempt to make it into a housecat. It's a mean little thing. I think it will probably make a better barn cat. As long as there aren't any owls lurking.....