{"id":40368,"date":"2016-07-07T04:48:15","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T10:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=40368"},"modified":"2026-03-07T09:23:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T15:23:36","slug":"uinta-ground-squirrel-in-the-uinta-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/07\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-in-the-uinta-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Uinta Ground Squirrels in the Uinta Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-171540 size-full\" title=\"Summit County Uinta Ground Squirrel, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-standing-mia-mcpherson-2140.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-standing-mia-mcpherson-2140.jpg\" alt=\"Summit County Uinta Ground Squirrel, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"680\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27680%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20680%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27680%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-standing-mia-mcpherson-2140-200x160.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-standing-mia-mcpherson-2140-400x320.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-standing-mia-mcpherson-2140-600x480.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-standing-mia-mcpherson-2140-768x614.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-standing-mia-mcpherson-2140.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Summit County Uinta Ground Squirrel &#8211; Nikon D810, f9, 1\/640, ISO 250, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I spent the morning in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Uinta_Mountains\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">high Uintas<\/span><\/a> yesterday hoping to take more images of the Red-naped Sapsuckers and had hoped the chicks would be sticking their heads out of the nesting cavity.<\/p>\n<p>The chicks didn&#8217;t cooperate and my images of the adults weren&#8217;t as good as I had hoped they might be because of shadows on the sapsuckers, the trunk of the aspen being so bright and various other reasons that made me feel the images were lacking.<\/p>\n<p>Bird photography isn&#8217;t always easy though and I accept that.<\/p>\n<p>But while I was waiting on the adult sapsuckers to come to the nesting cavity I amused myself by photographing the Uinta Ground Squirrels that came out to eat, sun, play, and rest along side of the road.<\/p>\n<p>There were several adults and a few young squirrels that would get brave and come out into the open after other vehicles drove by stirring up the dust.<\/p>\n<p>I even saw a few of them that looked like they were boxing and even though I couldn&#8217;t get my lens on them to take pictures because my line of sight was obstructed I watched and laughed at how cute they were.<\/p>\n<p>One of the Uinta Ground Squirrels stood up and simply looked around right on the shoulder of the road and I couldn&#8217;t resist photographing it.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t know if the squirrel was being a sentinel and keeping an eye out for danger or if it just felt like standing up to look around but I am glad it stood there long enough for me to take a nice series of images of it.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/uinta-ground-squirrel-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Uinta Ground Squirrel photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the Uinta Ground Squirrels stood up and simply looked around right on the shoulder of the road and I couldn&#8217;t resist photographing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171540,"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":[1212,1731,1630,5219,26],"tags":[4004,5370,1631,5071,4069,3826,3827,953,2619,3196,2620],"class_list":["post-40368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-high-uintas-utah","category-summit-county-utah","category-uinta-ground-squirrel","category-uinta-wasatch-cache-national-forest","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-forest","tag-ground-squirrel","tag-ground-squirrels","tag-mountains","tag-squirrel","tag-squirrels","tag-standing","tag-uinta-ground-squirrel-2","tag-uinta-mountains","tag-urocitellus-armatus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-standing-mia-mcpherson-2140.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-av6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":109055,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/28\/some-mammals-i-loved-in-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":40368,"position":0},"title":"Some Mammals I Loved In 2022","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am sharing some photos of the mammals I loved finding, seeing, photographing and having in my viewfinder in 2022.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Badgers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Badgers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/american-badger\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Badger in profile, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-badger-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0292.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-badger-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0292.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-badger-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0292.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-badger-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0292.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102548,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/21\/cute-baby-uinta-ground-squirrel-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":40368,"position":1},"title":"Cute Baby Uinta Ground Squirrel Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Cute baby Uinta Ground Squirrel images have become a yearly tradition and desire for me and this week the babies were emerging from their burrows.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Uinta Ground Squirrel peeking out of a burrow, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-6514.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-6514.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-6514.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-6514.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102952,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/06\/more-cute-baby-uinta-ground-squirrels\/","url_meta":{"origin":40368,"position":2},"title":"More Cute Baby Uinta Ground Squirrels","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week while up in the Wasatch Mountains with my friend Steve I took more images of cute baby Uinta Ground Squirrels. I simply can't resist them.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cuddling baby Uinta Ground Squirrels, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-5017.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-5017.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-5017.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-5017.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":103822,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/03\/adult-uinta-ground-squirrel-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":40368,"position":3},"title":"Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I'm sharing some adult Uinta Ground Squirrel photos that were taken high in the Wasatch Mountains over the past month that I like a lot.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel on an old sagebrush stump, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-adult-sagebrush-stump-mia-mcpherson-2147.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-adult-sagebrush-stump-mia-mcpherson-2147.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-adult-sagebrush-stump-mia-mcpherson-2147.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-adult-sagebrush-stump-mia-mcpherson-2147.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104564,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/27\/chunky-uinta-ground-squirrel-in-july\/","url_meta":{"origin":40368,"position":4},"title":"Chunky Uinta Ground Squirrel In July","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Friday I couldn't resist photographing a chunky Uinta Ground Squirrel I found standing next to a road high in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Uinta Ground Squirrel in low light conditions, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-july-mia-mcpherson-7193.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-july-mia-mcpherson-7193.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-july-mia-mcpherson-7193.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-july-mia-mcpherson-7193.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101468,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/08\/my-first-of-year-uinta-ground-squirrel-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":40368,"position":5},"title":"My First Of Year Uinta Ground Squirrel Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I took my first of year Uinta Ground Squirrel photos yesterday morning high up in the chilly Wasatch Mountains not long after the sun lit up the sagebrush.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel on a cold April morning, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/uinta-ground-squirrel-spring-mia-mpcherson-3688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/uinta-ground-squirrel-spring-mia-mpcherson-3688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/uinta-ground-squirrel-spring-mia-mpcherson-3688.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/uinta-ground-squirrel-spring-mia-mpcherson-3688.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}