This little fellow is a baby groundhog, probably born in the midde of March, at about the same time same as fox kits are born.
He was in the same hole with his mother, pictured below, and I let them both bolt off to freedom as we were far enough from the fields that they are not likely to do much harm. This fellow should be just about weaned and will soon be bullied to move out on his own.
Baby groundhogs and possums are "meals on heels" for fox, coyote and hawks at this time of year.
Mom was a tough little customer, and anxious enough to bolt into the brush after I got her picture.
We bolted another pretty large groundhog right at the start on Sunday, but it got too far up into the tree to get a decent picture. In fact, I was not sure he was up there until I got him to move a bit with a well-placed bit of old branch winged up into the greenery! Groundhogs are members of the squirrel family, and though they are ground squirrels, they can climb trees pretty well when pressed.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment