A Shadow Will Be Seen

This morning a shadow will be seen by any Yellow-bellied Marmots that venture above the snow-covered, frozen ground in northern Utah.

Adult Yellow-bellied Marmot in February

Yellow-bellied Marmots (Marmota flaviventris) are the closest relative to Groundhogs (Marmota monax) that we have here although we don’t actually rely on them to tell us whether we will have six more weeks of winter or not.

We will have more winter here. We know that.

The thing is that Yellow-bellied Marmots have been appearing above the ground earlier than expected in recent years which may be due to climate change.

The adult male marmot in the photo above was photographed on February 7, 2021 which I thought was very early for me to have found a marmot scurrying around on the foothills of the Promontory Mountains. Then last year I found a Yellow-bellied Marmot above the ground on January 15th which was astounding to me. In both of those winters we had lower than average snowfall. So far this winter we are having a snow bonanza, at least up in the mountains.

At any rate, the sun is supposed to shine here all day today so if a Yellow-bellied Marmot does poke its head out of its burrow it will definitely see its own shadow.

Celebrity Groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil at Gobblers Knob in PA, will make a prediction later this morning when the sun rises back east.

I never place too much confidence in Punxsutawney Phil’s predictions. Winter will be over when its over and when spring arrives. In the meantime, I’ll be keeping an eye out for my first of year Yellow-bellied Marmot sighting simply because I enjoy seeing the large, fuzzy creatures and photographing them whenever I can.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Life is good.

Mia

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