Pocket Gopher New Year Surprise Arkansas

The first wildlife I photographed in 2026 wasn’t a bird. It was a Pocket Gopher digging in my Arkansas yard on New Year’s Day. I walked outside that morning hoping to see what bird would show up first, and a Mourning Dove was already sitting in my feeder. It flew off before I could grab my camera. So I sat on the deck and waited for another chance.

This short video shows the pocket gopher pushing fresh soil out of the burrow in short bursts.

While I was watching the feeder, I noticed movement in the grass about twenty feet away. A Pocket Gopher pushed its head out of a fresh mound and started shoving dirt to the surface. I thought it was funny that my first wildlife photo of the year would be a burrowing rodent instead of a bird. I started shooting right away.

Wildlife Notes: Pocket Gopher Behavior

Pocket Gophers are solitary burrowers that spend most of their lives underground. They create extensive tunnel systems and push excavated soil to the surface, which forms the characteristic mounds you see in yards and fields. These mounds are often crescent-shaped or fan-shaped depending on how the gopher exits the tunnel.

Gophers are active year-round. They don’t hibernate. In winter, they may dig closer to the surface where the soil is softer, which is why you sometimes see fresh mounds even in cold weather. Their diet consists mainly of roots, tubers, and other plant material they encounter while tunneling.

The species in Arkansas is most commonly Baird’s Pocket Gopher. They’re called “pocket” gophers because of the fur-lined cheek pouches they use to carry food and nesting material. I’ve written about my encounters with pocket gophers before (see my Baird’s Pocket Gopher in Arkansas: A Wildlife Garden Encounter and Close-up With A Pocket Gopher posts). This one was pushing dirt out in short bursts, which is typical behavior when they’re clearing a tunnel or extending their system.

Photography Notes: New Year’s Day Setup

I used my Canon EOS R5 Mark II with the RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM lens. I was sitting on my deck with the camera resting on the railing for stability. The gopher was about twenty to thirty feet away, so I was zoomed all the way to 800mm. The light was decent for mid-morning on January 1, but I still needed ISO 4000 to keep the shutter speed at 1/1000 second. At f/9, the depth of field was enough to keep the gopher and the mound reasonably sharp.

The gopher only surfaced for a few seconds at a time, so I had to be ready. I shot in continuous mode and captured several frames each time it appeared. The best shots came when it paused with its head fully visible above the dirt. After about ten minutes, it stopped pushing dirt and disappeared back into the tunnel.

Later that morning, birds did show up at the feeder. I got photos of several species, but the gopher was still the first. You can see more about my New Year’s Day wildlife watching in my Starting 2026 With Patience and Observation post.

A Funny Start to 2026

I was expecting my first photo of the year to be a cardinal or a titmouse. Instead, it was a Pocket Gopher. It’s a good reminder that wildlife photography doesn’t always go according to plan. The best moments often happen when you’re watching for something else entirely.