Female Yellow-belied Marmot keeping an eye on her pups
Frazzled looking female Yellow-bellied Marmot watching over her pups
Pale faced Yellow-bellied Marmot pup
Yellow-bellied Marmot pup running across the rocks
Yellow-bellied Marmot pup up close
Yellow-bellied Marmot pups rubbing noses
Yellow-bellied Marmot siblings
Two Yellow-bellied Marmot pups on the rocks
Yellow-bellied Marmot pup on an April morning
Sibling Yellow-bellied Marmot pups
Yellow-bellied Marmot pup sitting on top of a boulder

Yesterday it was actually a clear morning for a change and after not being out in the field for six days because of clouds and rain I was raring to go find some birds to photograph. I needed to be outside, breathing the fresh, rain-scrubbed air with the birds, the sweeping views and any wildlife I could find.

And I did find birds, Red-tailed Hawks mating and nest building, a sassy Sage Thrasher, several Turkey Vultures, Long-billed Curlews, Western Meadowlarks, Swainson’s Hawks, Northern Harriers, Tree Swallows, American Robins, a lone Spotted Towhee, Rocks Wrens singing, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Horned Larks and Sandhill Cranes. I also saw flocks of ducks from a distance along with lots of Canada Geese.

I was able to take dozens of photos of the Red-tailed Hawks mating and of the male bringing in nesting materials and I will share those another day. I had a great time photographing the birds I found yesterday.

Cuddling Yellow-bellied Marmot pups

Cuddling Yellow-bellied Marmot pups – Nikon D500, f11, 1/640, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

The most fun I had yesterday wasn’t photographing my feathered friends instead it was while I photographed a female Yellow-bellied Marmot and her five delightful pups. Those five pups were just so freaking cute and some of their antics had me laughing out loud while I took photo after photo of them.

Yes, I took a lot of images of these marmot pups, maybe too many by other people’s standards but I am not other people, I am me. My train of thought on the matter of taking lots of images of these marmot pups is that I might never have the opportunity with all five of the pups again so why not take as many photos as I wanted and make the most of the opportunity in front of me.

Anyway, the female Yellow-bellied Marmot wandered up a hill and left her pups playing , sunning and scrambling over the boulders and rocks at the burrow.

The marmot pups had me laughing out loud quite often, one was startled by a big fly and nearly fell over backwards which was comical. Some of the pups relaxed on the rocks while others nibbled on grasses and forbs, they nuzzled and nipped at each other too. The marmot pups were very entertaining and I actually hated to leave them to head home.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Yellow-bellied Marmot photos plus facts and information about this species.

P.S., you can click on any of the top photos to open them full sized.