Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel Close Up In The Wasatch Mountains

Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel close up – Nikon D500, f9, 1/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

While I was up in some of the canyons of the Wasatch Mountains last week I heard familiar calls that had me looking around for the wildlife making them but it wasn’t the calls of birds that had gotten my attention it was the calls of Uinta Ground Squirrels. The ground squirrels have spent fall and winter underground and now they have emerged and made their appearance above ground. I enjoyed seeing them scurrying around the sage and grasses in the canyons last week.

I didn’t get any photos of the Uinta Ground Squirrels while I was up in the canyons last week and I will need to fix that soon because I adore these furry, dark-eyed ground squirrels. I know… some people think they are annoying little pests or are too common to stop and photograph them but that just isn’t who I am. I’ll stop and take images of them every chance I get.

I took this close up of an adult Uinta Ground Squirrel the same day I photographed the Green-tailed Towhee that I shared here on my blog yesterday. My Mom was riding behind me in my Jeep taking photos of the ground squirrels with her cell phone and her point & shoot camera and I think, or rather I know, she was enchanted by all of the baby squirrels we saw that same day.  This adult was so close that even if I has taken off my teleconverter I still wouldn’t have been able to fit its entire body in the frame so I decided to take close up shots of its face. I love its big dark eyes, little ears and long whiskers.

I can’t wait to see these squirrels through my viewfinder again.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Uinta Ground Squirrel photos plus facts and information about this species.