{"id":57695,"date":"2019-05-08T05:47:51","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T11:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=57695"},"modified":"2026-03-07T15:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T21:15:20","slug":"photographing-uinta-ground-squirrels-in-a-wasatch-mountain-canyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/08\/photographing-uinta-ground-squirrels-in-a-wasatch-mountain-canyon\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographing Uinta Ground Squirrels In A Wasatch Mountain Canyon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Uinta Ground Squirrel munching on spring grasses – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago while up in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> I was able to finally realize a personal goal while photographing Uinta Ground Squirrels.<\/p>\n

What I have wanted to achieve for quite some time is to photograph the ground squirrels near the edge of the road where it drops off sharply so that I could have the distant canyon walls in the background instead of a field of grass, piles of dirt, or the beautiful but messy looking sagebrush that dots the slopes of the canyons.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Uinta Ground Squirrel nibbling on grasses – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/800, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

What I wanted was a smooth, almost silky background behind the Uinta Ground Squirrels and one way to achieve that is to have the features of the canyon walls so far away that everything about them becomes a blur in the final image.<\/p>\n

With these first two Uinta Ground Squirrel images there is a visible gradient of green towards the top and a brownish color near the bottom of the background, the green was from a grassy slope across the canyon and the brown coloration was from willows lining the creek below that haven’t yet leafed out.<\/p>\n

The ground squirrel was feeding on grasses at the edge shoulder of the road where there is a 10 to 15 foot drop off while I was parked on the opposite side of the gravel road.<\/p>\n

\"AlertAlert adult Uinta Ground Squirrel in a Wasatch Mountain Canyon – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1250, ISO 400, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I noticed another Uinta Ground Squirrel a little bit up the road and realized that if I could approach it slowly enough so as to not disturb it that I would have a solid green background behind the ground squirrel.<\/p>\n

I turned my Jeep on and rolled forward slowly until I could see that the background behind the squirrel would be solid green, turned off the engine, and locked focus on the squirrel’s eye.<\/p>\n

I am happy to say that I achieved my goal with all of these Uinta Ground Squirrel photos by maneuvering my Jeep, aka my mobile blind, to exactly where I wanted and needed to be.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Two days ago while up in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains I was able to finally realize a personal goal while photographing Uinta Ground Squirrels. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171599,"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":[1731,1630,26,773],"tags":[4004,4540,211,3940,4040,4109,1631,5071,4036,2759,3748,8301,8300,165,3826,3827,2619,2620],"class_list":["post-57695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-summit-county-utah","category-uinta-ground-squirrel","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-alert","tag-background","tag-canyon","tag-feeding","tag-grasses","tag-ground-squirrel","tag-ground-squirrels","tag-low-angle","tag-munching","tag-nibbling","tag-photograph","tag-photographing","tag-spring","tag-squirrel","tag-squirrels","tag-uinta-ground-squirrel-2","tag-urocitellus-armatus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-grass-mia-mcpherson-2619.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-f0z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47162,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/06\/06\/uinta-ground-squirrel-near-east-canyon-creek-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":57695,"position":0},"title":"Uinta Ground Squirrel Near East Canyon Creek In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There were three Uinta Ground Squirrels in the riparian zone along East Canyon Creek and I felt that I had to take photos of them in the bright, clear light, they were so cute.","rel":"","context":"In "Morgan County"","block_context":{"text":"Morgan County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/morgan-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Uinta Ground Squirrel near East Canyon Creek, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-grasses-mia-mcpherson-2449.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-grasses-mia-mcpherson-2449.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"May 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeing the baby ground squirrels brought a smile to my face and I must admit that my heart skipped a beat. I really think that they are adorable.","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":"Baby Uinta Ground Squirrel with a muddy nose, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-grass-mia-mcpherson-2296.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-grass-mia-mcpherson-2296.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-grass-mia-mcpherson-2296.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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