{"id":124365,"date":"2024-03-16T04:03:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T10:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=124365"},"modified":"2025-05-08T06:08:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T11:08:23","slug":"my-first-of-year-rock-squirrel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/16\/my-first-of-year-rock-squirrel\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Of Year Rock Squirrel"},"content":{"rendered":"

I went out for about 30 minutes yesterday because, once again, the weather forecast was wrong. When I found my first-of-year Rock Squirrel, the sun was shining brightly. The forecast had called for clouds and wind, but the weather was neither.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst of year Rock Squirrel \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

While I was looking for birds to focus on, I noticed that the Rock Squirrels had emerged from their winter slumber. I was delighted to see them again. The first three photos I took yesterday morning were of this Rock Squirrel.<\/p>\n

Then, the squirrel disappeared. In fact, all of the squirrels were extremely skittish. I guess if I had spent all winter underground where there weren’t any people making noises, I’d be pretty skittish too when confronted with them. Frankly, I’m already a touch skittish in crowds.<\/p>\n

I had never seen these Rock Squirrels at this location in the city until last year. I’m tickled that they are still hanging around. Squirrels of any species make me smile.<\/p>\n

I did photograph a few birds while I was out yesterday. I’ll share them later.<\/p>\n

It felt marvelous to be outdoors, behind my tripod, with my eye looking through my viewfinder. Even though it was cool, the sun felt warm and I felt a sense of calm.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, I will be able to take more photos of these Rock Squirrels<\/span><\/a> soon. I also hope they will be a little less skittish next time I have them in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I got out for about 30 minutes yesterday because the weather forecast was wrong, again. When I found my first-of-year Rock Squirrel, the sun was shining bright.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5661,709,26],"tags":[4004,788,3747,4109,1631,5071,5662,10698,5663,14814,165,3826,3827,8018],"class_list":["post-124365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rock-squirrels","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-first-of-year","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-ground-squirrel","tag-ground-squirrels","tag-otospermophilus-variegatus","tag-park","tag-rock-squirrel","tag-slumber","tag-spring","tag-squirrel","tag-squirrels","tag-urban"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/rock-squirrel-first-of-year-mia-mcpherson-9587.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-wlT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44963,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/02\/14\/mercur-canyon-rock-squirrel\/","url_meta":{"origin":124365,"position":0},"title":"Mercur 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2022","format":false,"excerpt":"January 21st is Squirrel Appreciation Day around the globe. There are many reasons to appreciate these furry, four legged, cute creatures.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Box Elder County"","block_context":{"text":"Box Elder County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/box-elder-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Baby Uinta Ground Squirrel calling from a rock, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-calling-mia-mcpherson-4066.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-calling-mia-mcpherson-4066.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-calling-mia-mcpherson-4066.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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