Groundhog's Day February 2nd - a time to appreciate the giant member of the squirrel family also known as a Woodchuck. Here is an extreme closeup of these adept tree climbers with voracious appetites. Note the extremely large long claws for digging burrows and the large Beaver-like teeth. They spend a lot of time digging and eating and are quite cute in their own way.
Groundhogs are excellent tree climbers - who knew! Thinking Raccoon's were eating late season peaches - hard sour peaches not fit for humans - I set up several camera traps and the culprits were "GroundHogs" or perhaps "TreeHogs"! One was so heavy he barely made it up, but despite their considerable size and weight they are a close relative of squirrels and their claws are huge - so perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised. The National Wildlife Federation's article on 10 things you may not know about groundhogs does not list "tree climbing" which should now be at the top of the list:
A Huge Groundhog aka Woodchuck near Great Smoky Mountain National Park taking advantage of a trimmed apple tree by eating one apple after another off the ground. Believe it or not this giant fellow can climb fruit trees and climb out on branches to grab apples and peaches. At the very large end of the spectrum of Groundhog sizes this fellow stands two feet tall and looks a lot like a miniature bear. More HD videos every week. Please Subscribe at: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=MyBackyardBirding
This Saturday February 2nd is Groundhog Day and a time to celebrate the groundhog and begin to start to think about spring. Of course down here in Florida where we never get winter, that's a bit of an abstraction. The most famous groundhog is Punxsutawney Phil of western Pennsylvania. Its a safe bet that he will not see his shadow tomorrow as the National Weather Service is predicting a 100% chance of snow. According to lore that would mean an early spring rather than 6 more weeks of winter.
We don't have Groundhogs down this far south, but I was fortunate to capture this magnificent, large specimen in western North Carolina near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park early last fall. Voracious eaters of tender grasses and vegetation the wild ones like this are very cautious and will run for cover at the first sign of visitors. Notice how large the feet and claws are toward the end of the video. They are on of the few mammals that truly hibernate. More information on Groundhogs Days is at Wikipedia. Enjoy the day and maybe watch Groundhog Day, one of Bill Murray's funniest movies.
