Mount Graham Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus fremonti grahamensis)
I photograph wildlife, but I have never called myself a wildlife photographer. All I need to do is look at the images of the best wildlife photographers to confirm this. I am good at photographing things that don't move, except in a breeze.
But I love all wildlife, and my interests and explorations often take me to mountain ranges where unique biology exists. This was recently Arizona's Pinaleño Mountains - a sky island range - where the Mount Graham red squirrel (Tamiasciurus fremonti grahamensis) resides, an endangered subspecies of the southwestern red squirrel (Tamiasciurus fremonti). Due to habitat loss and wildfire, the squirrel population dropped to a low of 35 individuals in 2017, following the Frye Fire. The current population is estimated at a mere 232. Surrounded by low desert, their entire habitat is restricted to the highest elevations of the Pinaleño Mountains.
I recently climbed several high points of the Pinaleño Mountains in pursuit of this beautiful squirrel. Armed with camera and binoculars, I walked for nearly eleven miles, hoping for a glimpse, and I caught only a brief one just below the summit of Hawk Peak. I couldn't even be sure it was a red squirrel, but I wanted it to be so. Sitting quietly for periods of time revealed a plethora of high altitude bird activity, but no further squirrels. Dang it.
As is often the case in such long-walk photographic pursuits, they often seem for naught (although a walk in the mountains is never wrong, pay off or not). Later that afternoon, as storm clouds built over the range, I toured additional dirt roads. Lo and behold, the cutest Mount Graham red squirrel presented him or herself at the roadside for easy photographic picking.
Behold the endangered Mount Graham Red Squirrel! Look at those cute ears.
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