{"id":21140,"date":"2015-04-01T05:55:11","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T11:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=21140"},"modified":"2026-03-04T15:02:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T21:02:36","slug":"a-white-tailed-prairie-dog-in-golden-evening-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/04\/01\/a-white-tailed-prairie-dog-in-golden-evening-light\/","title":{"rendered":"White-tailed Prairie Dog in golden evening light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"White-tailedWhite-tailed Prairie Dog eating – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/640, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The White-tailed Prairie Dogs I saw and photographed last week in Wayne County, Utah seemed more active in the evening than mornings. It may have been that evenings were warmer but I definitely enjoyed photographing them in the golden evening light up high in the sagebrush steppe.<\/p>\n

\"White-tailedWhite-tailed Prairie Dog in evening light – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

While the prairie dogs seemed curious about the vehicle parked nearby they mostly seemed to ignore me and went about their business which seemed to consist of eating and basking in the warmth of the slowly setting sun.<\/p>\n

\"White-tailedWhite-tailed Prairie Dog on alert – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

They did pay attention to the sky though and could possibly see Golden Eagles far off in the distance. Prairie dogs are prey for the eagles so keeping an eye on the sky may save their lives.<\/p>\n

White-tailed Prairie Dogs are found in only 8% of their historical territory which includes western Wyoming and Colorado and small areas of eastern Utah and southern Montana.<\/p>\n

Some people shoot them for fun and I simply don’t understand killing for fun.<\/p>\n

\"White-tailedWhite-tailed Prairie Dog nibbling on food – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/640, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I had a marvelous time photographing this White-tailed Prairie Dog<\/span><\/a> with the warm sun on my face and a soft breeze blowing over the gentle hills. They are about the size of a cottontail rabbit and I think they are cute. They don’t live in “towns” like other prairie dogs do but instead live in smaller communities spread further apart.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good and sometimes it is golden.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

The White-tailed Prairie Dogs I saw and photographed last week in Wayne County, Utah seemed more active in the evening than mornings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,2486,3473],"tags":[4004,3474,1632,9005,4947,2660,3475,102,4032],"class_list":["post-21140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-utah","category-wayne-county","category-white-tailed-prairie-dogs","tag-adult","tag-cynomys-leucurus","tag-mammals","tag-prairie-dog","tag-prairie-dogs","tag-sagebrush-steppe","tag-white-tailed-prairie-dog","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-photography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/white-tailed-prairie-dog-eating-mia-mcpherson-7219.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-5uY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21079,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/03\/28\/travelogue-day-3-greater-sage-grouse-and-white-tailed-prairie-dogs\/","url_meta":{"origin":21140,"position":0},"title":"Greater 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