Groundhogs are also known as woodchucks. If you'd like to learn more about this lowland marmot, the University of Michigan has a nice writeup on Marmota monax, the groundhog.
My mother-in-law wanted her ashes spread near a favorite lighthouse in Maine so the family gathered in the Portland on the east coast and we spent a week visiting relatives in the area. Since it was a family trip and not a photography outing, I left the big lens and tripod at home in the Portland on the west coast. I did bring my camera and two zooms, I didn't know what to expect but they pack down pretty small and were easy enough to take along even if I didn't get a chance to use them.
My wife and I discovered the delightful Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in nearby Falmouth, Maine, on our first full day in the state. It was hot and humid and we didn't expect to see much, but my spirits rose when we discovered groundhogs near the headquarters! Thereafter I started getting up at 4:30am each morning to visit the refuge for a few hours of photography and still got back in time for breakfast before most of the others had gotten up.
In this close-up of one of the adults about to take a big bite out of an apple, you can see an identification tag in its ear. The groundhogs (also known as woodchucks) there are being studied and sport tags in both ears.
Based on my studies, I'd say they really like apples.
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Hold Your Apples High!
I had been visiting Gilsland Farm for several days in a row letting this groundhog get used to me, so it was rather nonplussed when I slowly approached and lay flat on the rain-soaked ground. It worked an apple from start to finish, suddenly raising it high when it was nearly at the core, yielding one of my favorite pictures of the trip.
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The Rain in Maine Falls Mainly on the Woodchuck
You know you've been living in Oregon too long when you actually like photographing wildlife in the rain.
Trained by years of hiking in my Portland, I brought along a pair of rain pants on our visit to the other Portland. They were put to good use on this rainy morning, even laying down in the wet grass I stayed nice and dry. The groundhogs were not so fortunate and were soaked through and through. Their wet fur has a bit of a porcupine appearance to it, but the apparent spines are actually the long guard hairs that the shorter underfur has clumped around, nicely showing off the white tips that give the fur a frosted look. |
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Bluetooth
The tags the refuge used to identify the woodchucks remind me of little bluetooth headsets.
I was protected on this rainy morning by my fancy rain gear but the camera and lens had to make do with plastic bags. It's a crude system but it's worked for 15 years so I haven't had much reason to improve it. The bags are made out of thick plastic as they are from the Virginia Tech campus bookstore, designed to hold heavy textbooks, so they've put up with decades of abuse. They are finally starting to show their age so at some point I'll need to look for an alternative but for now they remain the best bang-for-the-buck tool in my photography kit. |
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Behold the Mighty Groundhog!
A yawn can make just about any animal seem ferocious.
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Not So Ferocious
Groundhogs are primarily herbivores, often sitting back on their haunches and pulling plants to their mouths. Their love of plants makes them the enemy of gardeners, which I suppose is why the community gardens at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center were all fenced in.
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