{"id":51483,"date":"2018-04-01T04:53:14","date_gmt":"2018-04-01T10:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=51483"},"modified":"2026-03-06T07:55:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:55:52","slug":"signs-of-spring-yellow-bellied-marmots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/01\/signs-of-spring-yellow-bellied-marmots\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs of Spring: Yellow-bellied Marmots"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Yellow-bellied Marmot – Nikon D810, f10, 1\/640, ISO 250, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As a bird photographer I get very excited during spring migration because I start seeing birds I haven’t seen since fall and it is easy to get swept up in all that excitement but there are other signs of spring that I celebrate too like seeing the first forsythia in bloom, hearing spring peepers calling, the first violets blooming in the lawn and so much more.<\/p>\n

I get excited to see and photograph my first Yellow-bellied Marmots of the years, sunning on rocks, scurrying along a hillside, nibbling on fresh spring grasses or calling out an alarm because a raptor is flying overhead.<\/p>\n

A few days ago I did hear and see a marmot on a hillside calling out when an immature Bald Eagle lifted off from a rock high on a mountain and flew over where the marmot had been keeping a lookout.<\/p>\n

I haven’t yet been able to take any nice photos of the marmots I have seen this spring but I am delighted to see them again. I keep hoping to photograph a marmot in a snowy setting in early spring but so far that hasn’t happened and I doubt it will happen this spring.<\/p>\n

I do miss seeing them from about September through March when they are hibernating in their burrows.\u00a0 These Yellow-bellied Marmots<\/span><\/a> are my furry, mammalian harbinger of spring and I am looking forward to photographing the adults and their pups this year.<\/p>\n

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

Happy Easter.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I get excited to see and photograph my first Yellow-bellied Marmots of the years, sunning on rocks, scurrying along a hillside, nibbling on fresh spring grasses or calling out an alarm because a raptor is flying overhead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171289,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1148,26,231],"tags":[4004,4098,3747,4109,1632,5854,2241,4984,4069,4470,5496,165,4029],"class_list":["post-51483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","category-yellow-bellied-marmots","tag-adult","tag-desert","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-mammals","tag-marmot","tag-marmota-flaviventris","tag-marmots","tag-mountains","tag-rocks","tag-signs","tag-spring","tag-yellow-bellied-marmot"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-resting-mia-mcpherson-0260.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-don","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":103279,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/14\/yellow-bellied-marmot-photos-from-the-uinta-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":51483,"position":0},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmot Photos From The Uinta Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I showed my friend Steve Mirror Lake Highway in the Uinta Mountains and I was able to put him on a lifer Yellow-bellied Marmot.","rel":"","context":"In "Summit County"","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-bellied Marmot in the Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/yellow-bellied-marmot-adult-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6362.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/yellow-bellied-marmot-adult-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6362.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/yellow-bellied-marmot-adult-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6362.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/yellow-bellied-marmot-adult-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6362.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101550,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/13\/yellow-bellied-marmot-babies\/","url_meta":{"origin":51483,"position":1},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmot Babies","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days ago I was thrilled to have four small Yellow-bellied Marmot babies to observe and photograph on some rocks in far northern Utah.","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":"Yellow-bellied Marmot baby looking out from a crevice, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-baby-mia-mcpherson-7175.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-baby-mia-mcpherson-7175.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-baby-mia-mcpherson-7175.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-baby-mia-mcpherson-7175.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":126962,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/04\/01\/yellow-bellied-marmot-on-a-cliff\/","url_meta":{"origin":51483,"position":3},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmot On A Cliff","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On April Fool's Day of 2022, I was up in far northern Utah where I spotted this adult male Yellow-bellied Marmot warming up in the morning sun on a cliff.","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":"Adult male Yellow-bellied Marmot on a cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-male-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8926.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-male-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8926.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Marmot in February, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/yellow-bellied-marmot-february-male-mia-mcpherson-1740.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/yellow-bellied-marmot-february-male-mia-mcpherson-1740.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/yellow-bellied-marmot-february-male-mia-mcpherson-1740.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/yellow-bellied-marmot-february-male-mia-mcpherson-1740.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102105,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/03\/young-yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-portraits\/","url_meta":{"origin":51483,"position":5},"title":"Young Yellow-bellied Marmot Pup Portraits","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am sharing two portraits of recently photographed Yellow-bellied Marmot pups that I found near their den in desert habitat in northern Utah.","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":"Portrait of two Yellow-bellied Marmot pups, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pups-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9692.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pups-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9692.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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