{"id":98991,"date":"2022-01-16T05:10:02","date_gmt":"2022-01-16T12:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=98991"},"modified":"2026-03-06T17:58:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T23:58:51","slug":"yellow-bellied-marmot-out-and-about-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/16\/yellow-bellied-marmot-out-and-about-in-january\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellow-bellied Marmot Out And About In January"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Yellow-belliedYellow-bellied Marmot out and about in January \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I found and pointed out dozens of birds yesterday but the biggest surprise to me was spotting a Yellow-bellied Marmot out and about in the middle of January. Last year I spotted a Yellow-bellied Marmot within a mile of this one on February 7th<\/span><\/a> and that was too early for marmots to be out of their burrows.<\/p>\n

The marmot that I found yesterday beat that one by being out of its burrow three weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

The Yellow-bellied Marmot that I found yesterday appeared healthy. The marmot was doing what marmots do on chilly mornings and it was sunning itself on top of the lichen-covered rocks.<\/p>\n

That is typical behavior for marmots starting around the middle of March but not on a January morning where I saw a low of 10\u00b0F. Yellow-bellied Marmots should still be underground and hibernating at this time of the year.<\/p>\n

I can only speculate as to the reasons why this marmot was above ground when I found it yesterday. I don’t have enough data to do anything else.<\/p>\n

The marmot may not have been able to gather enough food last year before going underground due to our drought or it may be ill but as I mentioned above it looked\u00a0 and acted healthy.<\/p>\n

I strongly suspect that climate change has something to do with my early sightings of these marmots above the ground the past two years.<\/p>\n

I shared a back of camera cell phone snap yesterday on Facebook and one of my friends and fellow photographers, Kevin Doxstater, replied with a link to an article about nature being out of sync.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

One of his marmot photos was featured in the article. Although the article was written in 2011 the content about nature being out of sync applies today.<\/p>\n

Yesterday in the area where I found this Yellow-bellied Marmot I could see grasses that have already greened up. During my travels yesterday I also noticed tree buds that appear ready to pop open.<\/p>\n

A few days ago I found wild violets blooming in my front yard. I have heard Sandhill Cranes that shouldn’t be in northern Utah this early in the year.<\/p>\n

I am seeing signs of spring in northern Utah and all of that is a bit strange and early in January. I am sure there will come a time when I am not surprised to see signs of spring in the middle of winter. Today is not that time.<\/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":"

I found and pointed out dozens of birds yesterday but the biggest surprise to me was spotting a Yellow-bellied Marmot out and about in the middle of January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98990,"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":[4004,3462,4098,5700,12710,3291,5771,9979,1632,5854,2241,4984,4921,4470,5697,4018,11001,373,4029],"class_list":["post-98991","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-climate-change","tag-desert","tag-hibernation","tag-january","tag-lichen","tag-lichen-covered","tag-lichens","tag-mammals","tag-marmot","tag-marmota-flaviventris","tag-marmots","tag-rock","tag-rocks","tag-rodents","tag-sky","tag-too-early","tag-winter","tag-yellow-bellied-marmot"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/yellow-bellied-marmot-out-in-januay-mia-mcpherson-0110.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-pKD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":82766,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/29\/spring-yellow-bellied-marmot-resting\/","url_meta":{"origin":98991,"position":0},"title":"Spring Yellow-bellied Marmot Resting","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Around the middle of March while photographing nesting hawks I spotted a bit of movement and saw this Yellow-bellied Marmot resting on a cliff.","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 resting on a cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-high-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8946.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-high-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8946.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-high-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8946.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-high-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8946.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45326,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/03\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-in-a-crevice-with-lichen-covered-rocks\/","url_meta":{"origin":98991,"position":1},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmot In A Crevice With Lichen Covered Rocks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I am very fond of Yellow-bellied Marmots so when I spotted one clambering down some rocks into a crevice close to the road I became excited and as soon as I could I started taking photos of it.","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 in a rocky crevice, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-mia-mcpherson-0284.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-mia-mcpherson-0284.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-mia-mcpherson-0284.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-mia-mcpherson-0284.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":79030,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/02\/08\/yellow-bellied-marmot-that-should-be-hibernating\/","url_meta":{"origin":98991,"position":2},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmot That Should Be Hibernating","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Yellow-bellied Marmot in these photos should be hibernating until mid-March. I spotted it wide awake yesterday on a rocky slope 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":"Yellow-bellied Marmot above ground way too early in winter, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-too-early-mia-mcpherson-1763.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-too-early-mia-mcpherson-1763.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-too-early-mia-mcpherson-1763.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":68101,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/09\/yellow-bellied-marmot-high-up-on-a-cliff\/","url_meta":{"origin":98991,"position":4},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmot High Up On A Cliff","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I have taken thousands of images of Yellow-bellied Marmots where the marmots have been closer but very few of them that include as much habitat as this photo does.","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":"Adult Yellow-bellied Marmot high up on a cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-on-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2614.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-on-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2614.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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