{"id":59125,"date":"2019-07-20T05:44:32","date_gmt":"2019-07-20T11:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=59125"},"modified":"2026-03-10T06:37:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:37:20","slug":"wasatch-mountain-uinta-ground-squirrels-in-sagebrush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/07\/20\/wasatch-mountain-uinta-ground-squirrels-in-sagebrush\/","title":{"rendered":"Wasatch Mountain Uinta Ground Squirrels In Sagebrush"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-171651 size-full\" title=\"Pair of Uinta Ground Squirrels in a sagebrush, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squrrels-pair-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-0716.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squrrels-pair-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-0716.jpg\" alt=\"Pair of Uinta Ground Squirrels in a sagebrush, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" width=\"640\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27640%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20640%20800%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27640%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squrrels-pair-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-0716-200x250.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squrrels-pair-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-0716-400x500.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squrrels-pair-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-0716-600x750.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squrrels-pair-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-0716.jpg 640w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Pair of Uinta Ground Squirrels in a sagebrush &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 2.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>As I photographed a pair of Uinta Ground Squirrels in a sagebrush high up in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wasatch_Range\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> yesterday I realized that before long these squirrels will be gone from my view.<\/p>\n<p>I felt a twinge of sadness because I don&#8217;t feel that I have spent as much time taking images of them as I would have liked to have done this year and they will soon be spending their time underground.<\/p>\n<p>After all, they only spend about 3 1\/2 months of their lives above ground and I started photographing them in early May.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-171654 size-full\" title=\"Uinta Ground Squirrel perched on sagebrush, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-sagebrush-perch-mia-mcpherson-0739.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-sagebrush-perch-mia-mcpherson-0739.jpg\" alt=\"Uinta Ground Squirrel perched on sagebrush, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-sagebrush-perch-mia-mcpherson-0739-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-sagebrush-perch-mia-mcpherson-0739-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-sagebrush-perch-mia-mcpherson-0739-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-sagebrush-perch-mia-mcpherson-0739-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-sagebrush-perch-mia-mcpherson-0739-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-sagebrush-perch-mia-mcpherson-0739.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Uinta Ground Squirrel perched on sagebrush &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 2.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It would be impossible for me not to hear the &#8220;tick tock&#8221; of Nature&#8217;s clock at times especially when it comes to birds and animals where I know I only have a short window of opportunity in which to photograph them.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m hearing it now with these ground squirrels, with the shorebirds that are already heading south through the Great Salt Lake area and while photographing the bird species that breed here but spend the rest of their lives elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Tick tock, tick tock. I need to get busy before they are gone.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/uinta-ground-squirrel-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Uinta Ground Squirrel photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I photographed a pair of Uinta Ground Squirrels in a sagebrush high up in the Wasatch Mountains yesterday I realized that before long these squirrels will be gone from my view.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171654,"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":[2519,11480,3940,1631,5071,6481,4069,2817,4057,3826,3827,2619,2620],"class_list":["post-59125","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-artemisia-tridentata","tag-big-sagebrush","tag-canyon","tag-ground-squirrel","tag-ground-squirrels","tag-mountain","tag-mountains","tag-sage","tag-sagebrush","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-sagebrush-perch-mia-mcpherson-0739.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-fnD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":103822,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/03\/adult-uinta-ground-squirrel-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":59125,"position":0},"title":"Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I'm sharing some adult Uinta Ground Squirrel photos that were taken high in the Wasatch Mountains over the past month that I like a lot.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel on an old sagebrush stump, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-adult-sagebrush-stump-mia-mcpherson-2147.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-adult-sagebrush-stump-mia-mcpherson-2147.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-adult-sagebrush-stump-mia-mcpherson-2147.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/uinta-ground-squirrel-adult-sagebrush-stump-mia-mcpherson-2147.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101468,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/08\/my-first-of-year-uinta-ground-squirrel-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":59125,"position":1},"title":"My First Of Year Uinta Ground Squirrel Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I took my first of year Uinta Ground Squirrel photos yesterday morning high up in the chilly Wasatch Mountains not long after the sun lit up the sagebrush.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel on a cold April morning, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/uinta-ground-squirrel-spring-mia-mpcherson-3688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/uinta-ground-squirrel-spring-mia-mpcherson-3688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/uinta-ground-squirrel-spring-mia-mpcherson-3688.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/uinta-ground-squirrel-spring-mia-mpcherson-3688.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102548,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/21\/cute-baby-uinta-ground-squirrel-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":59125,"position":2},"title":"Cute Baby Uinta Ground Squirrel Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Cute baby Uinta Ground Squirrel images have become a yearly tradition and desire for me and this week the babies were emerging from their burrows.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Uinta Ground Squirrel peeking out of a burrow, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-6514.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-6514.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-6514.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-mia-mcpherson-6514.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":67050,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/03\/16\/uinta-ground-squirrels-have-emerged\/","url_meta":{"origin":59125,"position":3},"title":"Uinta Ground Squirrels Have Emerged!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I have taken thousands of photos of Uinta Ground Squirrels in green grasses, on rocks, climbing stumps, at their burrows, and in sagebrush but not a single image of them in the snow.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Uinta Ground Squirrel in spring grasses, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-young-grasses-mia-mcpherson-8605.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-young-grasses-mia-mcpherson-8605.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-young-grasses-mia-mcpherson-8605.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-young-grasses-mia-mcpherson-8605.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":70118,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/05\/20\/baby-uinta-ground-squirrels-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":59125,"position":4},"title":"Baby Uinta Ground Squirrels In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia 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 &quot;Summit County&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-baby-grass-mia-mcpherson-2296.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57695,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/08\/photographing-uinta-ground-squirrels-in-a-wasatch-mountain-canyon\/","url_meta":{"origin":59125,"position":5},"title":"Photographing Uinta Ground Squirrels In A Wasatch Mountain Canyon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel munching on spring grasses, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-grass-mia-mcpherson-2619.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-grass-mia-mcpherson-2619.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-grass-mia-mcpherson-2619.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-grass-mia-mcpherson-2619.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}