There being such a dearth of good news these days, it is nice to be able to offer some, even though it’s only about the health of a little groundhog.
Insignificant as it may be in the grand scheme, it matters to us.
Wild animals are stoic, coping with whatever injuries or infirmity they may be afflicted with and we are always touched by such creatures that seem to show up here with regularity.
Deaf, blind, crippled…
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And bald. Going into last winter’s hibernation with no clothes seemed fairly desperate and the poor creature didn’t appear to have built itself up sufficiently the last time we saw it before it retired. Groundhogs usually get quite rotund.
When winter got so cold and protracted, we didn’t hold out much hope for little Baldy.
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It was very much to our surprise that Baldy reappeared on March 30th.
He (we are fairly sure now that it’s a male) was thinner, of course and it seemed that his hair was even more sparse.
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Each time we caught sight of Baldy, he appeared to be a little more – bald.
Though it was hard to judge, given different light and – moisture.
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One needs to compare like with like. On June 7th, those hips looked a bit more bare. On the other hand, there seemed to be fur where there had been only naked skin not long ago.
Back in April, Baldy had had a serious case of dandruff. The top layer of his skin flaked off, but since then it had appeared quite healthy, so we had to wonder…
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Because Baldy is so easy to identify, we know that he moves around a lot, one minute out by the lilac bush, then near the kitchen window and not long after out on the driveway. We have seen him chased off by one of the other groundhogs (they are not nice to one another!), so we know he can run fast and that he is unbothered by such attacks. Basically, he is a totally normal groundhog.
Saturday night he came to get peanuts on the walkway which gave me a chance for for an updated photo.
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Which I compared, like with like:
The face looks different, but we know this is the same animal because he is missing his tail.
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The hair on his butt is thinner, but as you can see he is growing a healthy-looking coat on his back, so we are hoping this is a sign that he will have a full set of clothes by the time he hibernates again.
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“I’m staying out of this!”
“Learn some manners! Brat!”
“FOOD!”
As an additional piece of groundhog news, I offer the above hint.
The photo is not in focus and I don’t know why adding the text turns it so dark (I’m useless at this stuff) but it’s an example of starling behaviour.
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On June 11th a single baby groundhog appeared.
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Just long enough to nibble a few bits of carrot.
The family of five have not been seen since June 4th and this little one has only reappeared once, very briefly, but Grant has seen babies running around in the lower field.
We took a walk down there on Saturday and noted that there is plenty of grazing for a host of wildlife. Meanwhile the carrot offerings up by the house disappear twice daily, so we continue to put them down and keep an eye out for whoever shows up.
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Thank you so much, Carolyn, for the wonderful update on the lives of groundhogs that are visiting your dinner! Baldy is getting better and better, which is good news.
Joanna
Thanks for the positive update on Baldy, and the reappearance of one baby. Good to know they are all flourishing somewhere.
Best wishes, Pete.
As you say, we could all do with a bit of good news – thanks for the lovely feedback on Baldy. Just the fact that he survived last winter with so little hair and also doesn’t have a nice round belly like his fellow groundhogs makes me think he’s a little fighter.
My only experience with ground hogs turned violent. Fourteen years old, we visit a friend of my father who has a horse ranch that backs up on Pike National Forest. A Park Ranger drops by on horseback, and after a small conference we’re all asked to sign something that gives us the right to use firearms in the park. We saddle up for a mission to shoot groundhogs and prairie dogs, as many as we can. My father, after WWII, said hunting should be illegal unless a person was starving or whatever was hunted was armed. I was surprised he enlisted us, but it turns out those particular critters were carrying bubonic plague and every other form of wildlife in the park was at risk. A gross story, perhaps, but at least it wasn’t simple murder. I’m sure the bears and owls and all the rest that watched the carnage from a distance were better off. Still gives me the creeps to think about it.