What kind of squirrel is this?

[squirrelfriend]

I took this picture on a hike in the hills of California last October. its not a good picture but was the best I could get from the distance. It climbed trees but ran into a hole in the ground afterwards.

[Cleo_13]

Looks familiar, but I haven't been in California since a year after we moved in 7th grade. I used to see very similar squirrels when I would ride my bike though. Might it be a California ground squirrel? I just did some google searches. I can't tell very well from the photo, but did the back look sort of speckled?

[stepnstone]

Cleo is correct, California ground squirrel. :thumbsup

[astra]

SF, check this out http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39874

[squirrelfriend]

Yeah. I think you guys are right. They looked like the California ground squirrels. I wish I was able to get a better picture. For some reason it was easier to get pictures of deer than squirrels that day. There were tons of deer that weren't too shy. the squirrels I could get no where near.