Adult Yellow-bellied MarmotAdult Yellow-bellied Marmot – Nikon D810, f10, 1/640, ISO 250, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

As a bird photographer I get very excited during spring migration because I start seeing birds I haven’t seen since fall and it is easy to get swept up in all that excitement but there are other signs of spring that I celebrate too like seeing the first forsythia in bloom, hearing spring peepers calling, the first violets blooming in the lawn and so much more.

I get excited to see and photograph my first Yellow-bellied Marmots of the years, sunning on rocks, scurrying along a hillside, nibbling on fresh spring grasses or calling out an alarm because a raptor is flying overhead. A few days ago I did hear and see a marmot on a hillside calling out when an immature Bald Eagle lifted off from a rock high on a mountain and flew over where the marmot had been keeping a lookout.

I haven’t yet been able to take any nice photos of the marmots I have seen this spring but I am delighted to see them again. I keep hoping to photograph a marmot in a snowy setting in early spring but so far that hasn’t happened and I doubt it will happen this spring.

I do miss seeing them from about September through March when they are hibernating in their burrows.  These marmots are my furry, mammalian harbinger of spring and I am looking forward to photographing the adults and their pups this year.

Life is good.

Happy Easter.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Yellow-bellied Marmot photos plus facts and information about this species.