We have been seeing a new critter in the pit at the House On The Hill and became mostly sure after consulting my North American Wildlife book and Wikipedia that it was a pine marten or a woodchuck (aka groundhog, aka the critter who lies about winter almost being over EVERY. YEAR.), yet it moved like a beaver. However, when the trail cam captured the photo below, we all got a little nervous, thinking a woodchuck might not be the only new neighbor.
I tried and tried to zoom in with all the photo editing software at my disposal, but this grainy crop was the best that I could do; he was just too far away.
I don’t know about you, but that looks like a badger to me. This made us all nervous, because badgers will eat your face off! (Plus, they don’t care; they don’t give a SHIT. This link goes to the Honey Badger video, but they are closely related to the regular badger, whose link is here.)
Then another mysterious hidey-hole appeared behind the barrage. (That’s a barn/garage combo.)
ANYWAY…I had managed to get a few grainy shots of this little guy with the Canon, so when I found the hidey hole I placed the trail cam on it to be sure it was him living there, not a badger.
He or she is very cautious, pausing regularly to stand up and take a look- and sniff- around.
She or he seemed to have gotten used to us, and even has a shortcut through Squirt’s playhouse. The white metal to the left is his gate.
Hiding in the Lupine…
And in front of the barrage.
These are my favorite facts from the wiki link.
- weighs up to 10 pounds
- burrows are up to 46 feet long and five feet or more underground, with several exits
- the average woodchuck (groundhog) moves 35 cubic feet of dirt when making a burrow
- they are perfect for Hep-B -induced cancer research
- they do NOT chuck wood…the Native American word for them just sounds like “woodchuck”
- that does not stop people from yelling out my back door, “Hey you dang woodchuck! Stop chucking my wood!!”
Which may or may not have something to do with why we haven’t been seeing it up as close to the House on the Hill, but did show up on the trail cam when we placed it near Pajari Pond. But that’s another story.
You wanna watch that Geico commercial now, don’t you? So do I.
PS: Do you have a trail cam? What kind of creatures have you seen on it? I’d love to see the pictures!
Pajari Girl 
Whistle pigs are cute, but can be a nuisance (hence my reason for shooting them). They do burrow and dig up under buildings and they eat out of my garden (a definite ‘no’). They have tried several times to make a home under my buildings until I ‘talked’ them out of it.
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How do they taste? So far ours hasn’t done any damage. Whew. Lois had one several years ago at the Farm, until she put her Blue Heeler Patch on a diet. He ate the woodchuck 😦
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I was I would have had a trail cam when I lived in Colorado Springs. We had bear, fox, and mountain lion sightings along with the everyday deer.
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I love watching our “Wild Neighbors” ! http://cookscountryconnection.com/wild-neighbors/
I was lucky to be home and have a camera handy last fall when a black bear came for lunch; I’d love to see a mountain lion, too. From a distance! lol
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I’m looking forward to getting a wolf! I should have had the trail cam on my deer last fall; a big timber almost made off with it.
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Your first picture definately looks like a very mean badger. I saw one on Hwy 73 one morning on my way to work. At first I thought is was a pine marten until I stopped the car and pulled over. That badger turned around and looked right at me. I thought it would rush the car, it looked so crabby, mean!
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ACK! That would be cool to see, though!
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