Yellow-bellied Marmot Babies

Yellow-bellied Marmot baby looking out from a crevice – Nikon D500, f9, 1/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

A few days ago I was thrilled to have four small Yellow-bellied Marmot babies to observe and photograph on some rocks in far northern Utah. I suspect that these are the youngest marmots I have ever photographed because they were so small. And cute. Very cute. They had me oohing and awing as I took images and watched them moving around on the rocks.

Yellow-bellied Marmots are large ground squirrels that hibernate for about eight months of the year.

Yellow-bellied Marmot baby on a cool spring morning – Nikon D500, f9, 1/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

I enjoyed taking images of these young Yellow-bellied Marmots scurrying around on the rocks, nuzzling each other and warming up in the sunlight.

An adult female marmot was nearby watching over the pups as they explored their world. When the female whistled once all of the pups took shelter for a few minutes. The adult marmot may have seen an aerial predator that I couldn’t see from inside the vehicle I was in.

Baby Yellow-bellied Marmot warming up in the sunlight – Nikon D500, f9, 1/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

When I am out in the field birds are my primary focus although I simply can’t resist taking photos of the other critters I find while I am out there. The same can be said about me for wildflowers, trees, insects and well, the list goes on and on. If I see it in nature, I want to take photos.  I’m fascinated by nature, always have been and probably always will be.

Finding, pointing out, and having these Yellow-bellied Marmot babies in my viewfinder delighted me.

Life is good.

Mia

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