{"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_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":[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":[],"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