Prairie dogs
Apr. 9th, 2005 10:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nlbarberThe Denver Federal Center is a former WWII ordnance plant to the west of Denver proper, and has a fair amount of open space mixed with a variety of buildings built and/or used by a number of government agencies. It also serves as a wildlife haven: there's a resident population of Canada geese (a nuisance, mostly, as they scatter goose poop over all the walking surfaces), other birds, and a colony of cottontail rabbits lives near the building where I'm most often working.
What I don't remember until recently is the prairie dog town near Gate 2--we walked through it several days this week when going to lunch at the strip of stores just outside the gate. There are hills on either side of the 4-lane divided road (and I'm guessing tunnels connecting those hills running underneath), some of them within a couple of feet of the sidewalk or street. And on nice sunny days, most hills have a resident prairie dog sitting there watching the world go by, completely undisturbed by the human presence so close.
I really wish I'd had a camera with me on Wednesday. On the slopes of one hill was a prairie dog, completely flattened on his belly. He almost looked dead--but no, he was just basking. Only the eyes blinked at us as we stopped to look at him. Must try to remember to take the camera to lunch when I go back in June.
What I don't remember until recently is the prairie dog town near Gate 2--we walked through it several days this week when going to lunch at the strip of stores just outside the gate. There are hills on either side of the 4-lane divided road (and I'm guessing tunnels connecting those hills running underneath), some of them within a couple of feet of the sidewalk or street. And on nice sunny days, most hills have a resident prairie dog sitting there watching the world go by, completely undisturbed by the human presence so close.
I really wish I'd had a camera with me on Wednesday. On the slopes of one hill was a prairie dog, completely flattened on his belly. He almost looked dead--but no, he was just basking. Only the eyes blinked at us as we stopped to look at him. Must try to remember to take the camera to lunch when I go back in June.