Day before the snow hits: Prairie dogs and something new

Snow is falling in Denver today.  Before it hit, I took an afternoon at Roxborough to see how the animals were faring and preparing.  A quick swing through the Sharptail Open Area revealed the prairie dogs were out in force.

None of them seemed especially pleased to see me slow down and photograph them.  The alarm callers raised quite a racket.
 

Even the rabbits interspersed among the burrows lit out for their holes and just about everyone seemed prepared to duck and cover.  Given that there were no prairie dogs on the side of the road where there were cattle, it's pretty clear these guys periodically have reasons to watch their backs.

Inside the park, the mule deer were scattered and hard to find.  This pair wandered casually across a road as joggers and traffic came by.

This mouse seems to be weaving a rather drunken path home.  Perhaps he was out celebrating that the coyotes had given up on the crusted snow and left them alone?

...and high on a ridgetop this track appeared.  Much smaller than the normal mountain lions in the park, it also doesn't seem quite right for a canid.  A yearling mountain lion, perhaps?  For now I'm witholding judgment.   Having had a chance to reflect and compare this appears to be a very large coyote print. It does seem odd there were no deer here.  They have been in this spot every time I've been through so far this winter.  Were they scared out and scattered?  The park rangers have photographic evidence that a breeding pair lives inside the park.  Perhaps they were successful this year?

I still haven't found mule deer kills and I still have no direct visual contact with the cats.

We'll see what the future brings.