{"id":105481,"date":"2022-08-28T04:03:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T10:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=105481"},"modified":"2022-08-28T04:03:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T10:03:07","slug":"roadside-young-rock-squirrel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/28\/roadside-young-rock-squirrel\/","title":{"rendered":"Roadside Young Rock Squirrel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"YoungYoung Rock Squirrel portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 640, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Almost two weeks ago I took a series of images of this young Rock Squirrel<\/span><\/a> near its burrow next to a dusty dirt road high in the Wasatch Mountains. When I slowly drove closer to the squirrel I thought it would take off but it stood its ground. I was able to pull over onto the other side of the road and take portraits of the young squirrel.<\/p>\n

I don’t get these Rock Squirrels in my viewfinder as often as I would like. More often than not I see them running up the slopes through my windshield and disappearing from my sight before I can get to them. For that reason I was thrilled to take photos of this youngster. I was even happier that my images were portraits because of the fine details I can see in my photos.<\/p>\n

A bicyclist rode past me which scared the young Rock Squirrel into its burrow but before then I was able to take thirty-six\u00a0 images of the squirrel. I waited around hoping that the squirrel would come back but after about five minutes I headed down the road.<\/p>\n

I was disappointed that the squirrel didn’t come back above ground but leaving it when I did was the right choice. Just a few minutes later I stopped for my lifer photos of a young Yellow-breasted Chat<\/span><\/a>. If I had waited longer to leave I would have missed out on seeing and photographing the chat. Some people might call that luck, chance or good timing. I personally like calling it a moment of sweet serendipity.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Rock Squirrel photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost two weeks ago I took a series of images of this young Rock Squirrel near its burrow next to a dusty dirt road high in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4594,5661,26,773,99],"tags":[3940,4142,5370,6259,4067,1632,4069,5662,4046,5663,3826,3827,2315,4193],"class_list":["post-105481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-morgan-county","category-rock-squirrels","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","category-wildlife","tag-canyon","tag-close-up","tag-forest","tag-forest-edge","tag-immature","tag-mammals","tag-mountains","tag-otospermophilus-variegatus","tag-portrait","tag-rock-squirrel","tag-squirrel","tag-squirrels","tag-summer-3","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t