Today’s Fun Friday post comes from my visit to Mount Evans, Colorado, where I ran into a large family of Yellow-bellied Marmots (Marmota flaviventris). One attending adult and six babies were all in a small rocky area, just off the Mount Evans Highway. I’ll share some “family portraits” in a future post, but today’s post highlights the playful duties of the babes:
Watching the little ones sparring, they reminded me of the young Black-tailed Prairie Dogs, always challenging each other and jumping on one another! And note the sharp claws and teeth on these youngsters.
When I first sat down on the rocks to photograph them, all of them stayed perfectly still and just stared at me. However, after just a few short minutes, they began their play. And they allowed me to inch in closer as I continued to photograph them. All were very accepting of me. In fact, Mama Marmot left the babies and again headed for my car (you might remember the post I published with Mama at extremely close range, while she approached my car) while I continued to photograph the playful babies.
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 1D Mark 3 body
- Canon 100mm-400mm, f/4.5-f/5.6 IS lens, at 400mm
- Handheld, with IS “On”
- ISO 400
- Aperture f/5.6
- Shutter 1/6400 sec.