Sunday, April 13, 2014

How much wood can a Woodchuck chuck?

The trail camera position was a dismal failure thanks to a raccoon shifting the camera that I had placed in an already precarious position facing the Groundhog hiding hole.  I got enough shots of the raccoon's face to know he was the culprit.

I got a very poor shot with the camera this morning as I was walking down to retrieve the trail cam. It is extremely skittish and runs to the hole as soon as it sees you so this shot was taken from some distance away and the light was bad.

I changed the position of the trail cam and left it down low for several hours and have just changed it up higher and will leave it there for a day or two.  With rain in the forecast for Monday and Tuesday  perhaps the lower position would be better but I will shift it on Wednesday.

The appearance of the Woodchuck aka Groundhog, Marmot, Whistle-pig answers some questions I had about some small saplings that had been chewed off.  I was beginning to think that perhaps a beaver had found its way to the pond.

Speaking of beavers, the beaver at the park was out early snagging some greenery.  I only got a couple of shots before it went in to its lodge.

There was an almost noticeable feel of energy and excitement in the air today among the birds.  It is almost like someone opened a big bird cage door and let all the migrants out.   I have heard quite a few warbler songs today, the Great Crested Flycatcher has been screeching and what year round birds that had not already started their nest were working hard on them today.




2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Paula, is that groundhog climbing a tree? If it is, I never saw one do that and I'm from PA where there are lots of them.

Hope that you don't have a garden with him around.:-)

Nature Girl said...

It is a leaner. It is not really climbing just walking up it. It was laying there soaking up a bit of sunshine that was making way through the leaves. I don't think it will come in the yard with a dog around.