Anyone who has seen the movie Caddie Shack would have an idea of what these little guys are. They have a bunch of different names here, Gophers, yellow gophers, picketpins, flickertails, and tawny American marmots.
The correct name here is Richardson's Ground Squirrels.
Whatever they're called, they are prolific around here to the point of plague proportions. They're prolific diggers & you have to be careful not to roll your ankle on the entrance to their burrows. They are either very bold or very stupid because you can get very close to them before they take off.