{"id":51692,"date":"2018-04-17T06:08:40","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T12:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=51692"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:30:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:30:40","slug":"yellow-bellied-marmot-pups-exploring-beyond-their-burrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/17\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pups-exploring-beyond-their-burrow\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellow-bellied Marmot Pups Exploring Beyond Their Burrow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Yellow-belliedYellow-bellied Marmot pup siblings near their burrow \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/400, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The two times I have observed and photographed these Yellow-bellied Marmot pups I have enjoyed watching them explore the area around their burrow, not only are they cute they are also entertaining.<\/p>\n

I like being able to see and photograph the interactions between the marmot pups because they are social animals and I also like photographing them individually.<\/p>\n

These two marmot pups stayed close together for nearly five minutes, they didn’t really interact with each other but I have to wonder if they just liked being close to each other or if they simply felt safer being closer to their burrow.<\/p>\n

\"AlertAlert little Yellow-bellied Marmot pup on a rock \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This alert Yellow-bellied Marmot pup stood up and caught my eye so I looked around to see what might have caused it to be on alert. A few seconds later I spotted three Turkey Vultures flying towards the pups.<\/p>\n

Good eye little one, good eye. It could have been a Red-tailed Hawk which would have put them in danger.<\/p>\n

\"CuteCute Yellow-bellied Marmot pups on a lichen-covered rock \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The first time I photographed these marmot pups they stuck very close to their burrow and a few days later it was interesting to watch them exploring further away on the hillside behind it.<\/p>\n

These marmot pups seemed to enjoy this lichen-covered rock because they went that direction several times while I photographed the little marmot family.<\/p>\n

I thought the differences in the facial markings of these two pups stood out well in this image. There is one marmot pup that has a much lighter face than all the other pups. I don’t know why.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow-belliedYellow-bellied Marmot pups side by side \u2013 Nikon D500, f16, 1\/250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The closeness of these Yellow-bellied Marmot<\/span><\/a> pups is wonderful to observe and great fun to photograph.<\/p>\n

And this last photo? Shows a pile of marmot poop too!<\/p>\n

I expect that the next time I see them they will be exploring even further away from their burrow and most likely I won’t get photos of them as close together as I have recently because they are becoming more adventurous as they grow older and will spend less time near their burrow.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

By the way, there is snow on the ground this morning, the weather forecasters got it right! Happy 107th of January.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

I hope it is the last snow this spring, at least down here in the valley.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

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

The two times I have observed and photographed these Yellow-bellied Marmot pups I have enjoyed watching them explore the area around their burrow, not only are they cute they are also entertaining. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171367,"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":[4540,6479,5772,4054,5774,6457,4098,4109,3291,1632,5854,2241,4984,4375,4107,5855,11852,4470,3829,6456,165,953,4029,4193],"class_list":["post-51692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","category-yellow-bellied-marmots","tag-alert","tag-babies","tag-baby","tag-burrow","tag-cute","tag-cute-animals","tag-desert","tag-grasses","tag-lichen","tag-mammals","tag-marmot","tag-marmota-flaviventris","tag-marmots","tag-poop","tag-pup","tag-pups","tag-ranchlands","tag-rocks","tag-siblings","tag-side-by-side","tag-spring","tag-standing","tag-yellow-bellied-marmot","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-siblings-mia-mcpherson-9408.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-drK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58042,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/20\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pups-greeting-each-other-outside-their-burrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":51692,"position":0},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmot Pups Greeting Each Other Outside Their Burrow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"We didn't stay long at the Yellow-bellied Marmot burrow because I wanted to take my mom to the Spiral Jetty and we still had a long, dusty way to go but we enjoyed the time we had with the pups.","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 pups greeting each other, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-siblings-mia-mcpherson-1245.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-siblings-mia-mcpherson-1245.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Yellow-bellied Marmot pup spent most of its time exploring the area around its burrow, climbing up and down the rocks, sitting, standing, scratching its fur, looking around and being a marmot pup in the wild where they belong.","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 pup sitting on rocks near its burrow, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-half-standing-mia-mcpherson-1638.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-half-standing-mia-mcpherson-1638.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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