{"id":56702,"date":"2019-03-18T06:12:37","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T12:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=56702"},"modified":"2026-03-06T15:24:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:24:43","slug":"yellow-bellied-marmot-family-in-early-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/18\/yellow-bellied-marmot-family-in-early-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellow-bellied Marmot Family In Early Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Yellow-belliedYellow-bellied Marmot pup standing up on some rocks – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago I spent time observing and photographing a Yellow-bellied Marmot family and it was such fun to photograph them. I’d seen other marmots that morning from a distance but at this burrow I was able to get frame filling images of this marmot family.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow-belliedYellow-bellied Marmot pup sitting on rocks near its burrow – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As far as I can tell there is only one Yellow-bellied Marmot pup at this burrow and this pup seems more advanced in age than the pups I photographed at this same burrow last year in early April.<\/p>\n

Maybe by being the only offspring marmots pups grow faster or perhaps with climate change the marmots will adapt and breed earlier than they have historically?<\/p>\n

I don’t know for sure but I do know that if there is only one pup at this burrow I will miss out on photographing the cute interactions between sibling marmots there.<\/p>\n

\"BigBig male Yellow-bellied Marmot – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first time I also saw a big, burly male Yellow-bellied Marmot at this burrow. It doesn’t look like he lost an ounce during his winter hibernation!<\/p>\n

He was definitely larger than the female who was nearby and he dwarfed the pup when he was near it.<\/p>\n

The male’s face and body was darker than the female but from what I understand there is a lot of variation in the fur of this species so I wouldn’t say that being darker indicates that a marmot is a male.<\/p>\n

Besides, I have a few photos of his rear end where his gender was revealed by his anatomy. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Yellow-bellied Marmot keeping watch over her pup – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The female Yellow-bellied Marmot spent most her time keeping watch on her pup while warming up in the morning sun.<\/p>\n

\"AlertAlert female Yellow-bellied Marmot – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Two noisy pickups went by and the female stayed right where she was but when a sedan went by the female dove for cover and then came back into view. That could indicate she is used to truck traffic more than sedans.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow-belliedYellow-bellied Marmot pup exploring its world – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Yellow-bellied Marmot<\/span><\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/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":"

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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[4004,4540,5772,7013,4054,7014,4070,3747,4109,4062,5854,2241,4984,4107,4470,5073,953,7015,373,4029,4193],"class_list":["post-56702","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-alert","tag-baby","tag-big","tag-burrow","tag-exploring","tag-female","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-male","tag-marmot","tag-marmota-flaviventris","tag-marmots","tag-pup","tag-rocks","tag-sitting","tag-standing","tag-watching","tag-winter","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-pup-half-standing-mia-mcpherson-1638.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eKy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":102105,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/03\/young-yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-portraits\/","url_meta":{"origin":56702,"position":0},"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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Exploring Beyond Their Burrow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","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 side by side, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-siblings-mia-mcpherson-9408.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-9408.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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