The Secret Life of Walter Woodchuck

Woodchuck

Last spring, I set a Cuddeback Attack on a woodchuck hole in the backyard. This year, I put a Reconyx on the same hole. The Reconyx is relatively new to me, so I have it set to take a burst of three photos then almost immediately take another burst, etc.etc as long as an animal is there to trigger the shutter. This is both a blessing and a curse. The GOOD news is I feel as if I am missing nothing. Aside from the multiple photos, the Reconyx seems to have a wider cone of detection than the Cuddebacks. The BAD news is I have become quickly overwhelmed with data. And these thousands of images are coming at the busiest time of the semester for me.
So here is my solution: Instead of half a dozen detailed posts, how about one long one with a ton of cool things that have been happening with my woodchuck? Fair enough?

Where to begin? 

Bedding material: In my last post I also wrote about woodchucks and specifically this behavior. I still do not know if this is a female making a bed for her young or a woodchuck just gathering material for its own bed.

Woodchuck with bedding material

 Last year, I created a whole video of visitors to the woodchuck burrow which you can view here. This year saw some interesting characters as well including:

Eastern Cottontail

Blue Jay

WHOA! Look at that photo above again. I have obtained many bird photos with the Reconyx that would have been missed by the Cuddeback. Occasionally, the trigger speed can't keep up with the movement though :)

A final visitor couldn't resist rubbing on the scent mark left by the woodchuck.

Feral cat

That little tree is Walter Woodchuck's favorite marking location. Not his ONLY location, but his favorite:

Woodchuck rubbing on tree

I don't believe I have ever used the word "adorable" in a blog entry yet, but perhaps I should give it a try to describe that photo above...

Walter loves that tree so much he even climbs it:

As I mentioned, Walter leaves scent on other places:

 

 Besides scent marking, Walter likes to stretch. A stretch often leads to a yawn. Observe: 

Now for a series of three...

Well, what happens when Walter STARTS to scent mark but then gets the urge to stretch?

Scent mark? Nope! Gotta stretch..

Woodchuck grooming

Finally, Walter spends a fair amount of time grooming. Although the individual photos are fun to look at, I have taken the series of stills and strung them together for a nice stop action style video. I think its worth the watch: Woodchuck in the sun

I have moved the camera. I am concentrating on other squirrel species now. But I think I will have to revisit Walter later in the season and see what other secrets I can uncover...

Woodchuck action through the lens of a Reconyx

Last year at this time I was playing with a new Cuddeback Attack and its video feature. I wrote

Woodchuck

several blog entries you can check out via the label "woodchuck" at this blog. This year, I decided to put out our new Reconyx camera at the same location and compare the results.
The Reconyx model we have does not take video, but it does take a burst of three photos in a row and then almost immediately is ready to take another burst of three. So I have been playing around with turning those still photos into a video. I am pleased with the results so far.
Two behaviors have emerged this week worth blogging about: Biting and the gathering of nesting material. 

Most, if not all squirrel species bite in order to leave scent behind. The glands are located in the cheek region and the actual bite may serve to anchor the face to the branch or serve as a visual marker or release aromatic chemicals from the wood or....??? :)

Regardless, my woodchuck has been active again this year at the small trunk at the entrance to its burrow. I have captured several nice images of it in action:

Woodchuck biting

Woodchuck biting and scent marking sapling

 

Several species have been captured investigating the entrance including raccoon, feral cat, striped skunk and this red fox. Red foxes will often take old woodchuck dens as their own and I wonder of this one had designs on housing or dinner...

Red fox at the woodchuck hole

Red fox sniffing a woodchuck's scent mark

That was five days ago and the fox has not appeared since.

The behavior I wanted to show is the gathering of nesting material. I only have images of this from a single day, but it happened twice.

I am not sure exactly where we are within the breeding process. Is this a precursor to mating or is this a sign that babies are nearly upon us? Is this a female? And is this even a natal nest being created? Why can't this just be a woodchuck cozying up the place without any expectation that the stork will be making any deliveries? Regardless, the Reconyx takes so many photos that they are of near video quality. I took all the photos associated with this event and put them in Movie Maker. Each still is up for .33 seconds. Have a look:

There are more stories to be told from this camera set. Stay tuned!

Woodchuck VII: The Groundhog takes to the Trees!

Whether you call it a woodchuck, groundhog or whistle pig, it is all the same thing: Marmota monax. It is not unusual for an animal to have more than one common name. Some are regional while others are more widespread. The woodchuck is even called "gopher" by some, but that name is particularly confusing since there is already another animal called gopher... This is my seventh post since I began monitoring this particular woodchuck burrow with a Cuddeback Attack. Just when I think I have blogged about everything, this critter does something different! Read on...

Woodchuck
(Seneca Falls, NY 4/12)

Many people are surprised to learn that woodchucks and other marmots are members of the squirrel family. I tell my students that there are two things that will help them remember that woodchucks are squirrels. as mentioned in a previous post, the first thing is the tail. Check out this first photo and note the bushy squirrel tail. Sure, it isn't as fluffy as the gray squirrel for example, but the woodchuck spends far more time on the ground (and under it!) than the gray squirrel. Which brings us to the second point regarding woodchucks: they climb trees just like other squirrels.

I have only seen two woodchucks in trees myself. Both times, I happened to be with students and both times the woodchuck were in fruit trees. Seeing a woodchuck in a tree will forever remind you that it is a big ol' squirrel. I still have the Cuddeback Attack set up on the woodchuck burrow in my backyard. I checked the camera last week and had 214 videos captured. That is 107 minutes to watch! About half way through I hit the jackpot; my woodchuck decided to climb. Here she is just before the video starts. She looks to be sizing up the situation...

When you watch the video, note that the woodchuck remains arboreal throughout the entire 30 seconds. In the next video segment recorded, she is down. I have been monitoring this particular burrow nonstop for weeks now and this is the first tree climbing noted.
Enjoy the video and remember to keep your eyes on the trees, watching for New York's largest squirrel.

Woodchuck VI: Stretching and Yawning with Groundhog Yoga

Woodchuck
(Seneca Falls, 4/12)

The Cuddeback Attack continues to produce some interesting video. Did you know woodchucks yawn? Yawn and stretch? In a way that makes them look like they are doing yoga? No? Well then! Check out the video below. As you watch, think about the purpose of the stretching. Woodchucks are known for spending a lot of time underground. Is the stretching simply a reaction to being up and out in the open? Or is this more of a reaction to waking up after a winter-long hibernation?

The video is a montage of several yawns and stretches but I saved the best one for last

Woodchuck V: Groundhogs in the Mist

Woodchuck
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/11)

Today I deployed nine camera traps with my students at our East Hill Campus. We plan to pull them in two weeks. Until then, I will continue with my series of woodchuck posts. I have two cameras out on two different but very close woodchuck holes. I believe I am only capturing images of a single animal on both cameras, but that is the subject of another post. Today, let me share a few images form the Cuddeback Capture. Unfortunately, the camera picked up some moisture inside and the photos all have a little foggy tint to them (Camera is currently in a plastic bag with some rice to soak up the water).  This first photo is just to set the scene so you can tell where the hole is.

Vigilant woodchuck
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/12)

I really enjoy the photos with the woodchuck standing tall on sentry duty. According to Elbroch and Rinehart (2011), up to 15% of a woodchuck's time above ground is spent in "vigilance behaviors" searching for predators or trespassers. I learned years ago that a sharp whistle can often get a woodchuck to pop up like this. Hunters often use this technique to get a 'chuck to reveal itself. The whistle is so effective because woodchucks whistle as a form of communication (one folk name for groundhog is "whistle pig").
I have no quarrel with my woodchucks. I do not farm. I have no livestock that could step into their holes.

Climbing woodchuck
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/12)

Woodchucks are rodents in the squirrel family. People are usually suprised by that. All squirrels have a pointed post orbital process on the skull, but that is hard to relate to and I don't always have a woodchuck skull handy. So I direct people to look for the bushy tail. In addition, I tell them that woodchucks climb trees like other squirrels. I have only personally witnessed this twice in my life, but the ever watchful camera captured this behavior in a mere few days time. Granted, this 'chuck is not scaling the heights or reaching the nosebleed section, but she appears to be completely off the ground.

Tomorrow, I hope the camera is dried out and ready to be put back out. In the meantime, I hope this woodchuck is enjoying her two days of privacy...

Woodchuck IV: I get by with a little help from my friends

Feral cat inspects woodchuck hole
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/12)

It has been a week since I posted anything about the woodchucks in our backyard. I have accumulated some interesting stuff that will be the subject of upcoming posts. Today was reserved for trying to learn how to use basic video editing software. So I cobbled together some footage of the OTHER critters that have been showing up at the woodchuck burrow. This guy gets more visitors than we do! I had a hard time uploading the video to this site so I have provided a link to it on YouTube. Hope you enjoy!

Visitors to a woodchuck burrow

Woodchuck love Part III: The saga gets confusing

Male woodchuck
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/12)

I was having so much success with the Cuddeback Capture at a woodchuck hole in my backyard that I swapped it out for a Cuddeback Attack so I could obtain some video and a better insight as to what was happening. I am so glad I did, because I obtained some very interesting video (see previous posts for the beginning of this story and some photos and video). Here is what has happened in the last few days. On Monday, March 19th, I arrived home from work with the borrowed Attack at about 630pm. The still pictures I captured on Monday showed activity at the hole at 630am, 721am, 1228-104pm (with 10 photos), 253-320pm (five photos) and two photos at 450pm. Tuesday, March 20th showed a very different activity pattern with no photos until the afternoon with activity periods spanning 204-215pm, 250-304pm, 435-445pm and 621-630pm.
But Wednesday, March 21 marked a dramatic change in activity. Not only did I obtain my very first pre-dawn phtoso of woodchuck but the camera documented what was essentially a three-hourblock of time with basically non-stop activity. Let's take a look:

I am sorry, I cannot tell if this is the male or the female. Feel free to chime in if you can tell. The video is worth watching, It appears that 'Chuck is actually vocaliing towards the end there...

Early rising woodchuck
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/12)

Here is the associated video:

The next photo was taken at 705am. Notice that the male is emrging FROM the den, This is the first time I documented him completely in the den. Notice how tolerant she seems. First the still photo, then the video:

But only five minutes later she seems far less accommodating. He shows some GREAT scent marking behavior here.

There were no images captured between the two videos shown above. So where are these woodchucks coming from? It appears they have at least one other hole in use for this burrow (I need more cameras!).
Here is a nice video in which the male remains motionless for about 8 seconds. Just when you forget you are watching a video, he blinks.

For the next several hours the story remains the same. The female appears to not tolerate the male. The male scent marks on the trunk and vine. Occasionally the male seems to emerge from the hole. The last images of the day are taken at 956am. Here is the still and video, respectively.

Now the plot thickens. After the above video at 956am on Wednesday, there is nothing captured until 350pm Thursday, about 31 hours later. What happened? Was the flurry of activity Wednesda morning the literal peak of the breeding activity? Did they mate? Is the female still in the hole? Possibly. as stated above, they have at least one other entrance that is not monitored by a camera. The last image of the female I obtained was at 900am on Wednesday. The 956am Wednesday photo is only of the male as is the only woodchuck photo captured on Thursday. I love a mystery!

Only woodchuck activity on Thursday
Lone male

Woodchuck love Part II

Female woodchuck
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/12)

On Monday night, I swapped out the Cuddeback Capture with a Cuddeback Attack so I could utilize the video feature. When I got home from work today, I spooked the male. He ran to the north and appears to be using a nearby hole, not the one the female is using. I am certain I can tell the two apart. As I mentioned in my last post, the female is reddish while the male is more grizzled. She also has a darker cap than he does. I captured a dozen videos and stills today and will present three of them to you here.
The weather again today was both sunny and unseasonably warm. I expected the ground hogs to take advantage of it. I was not disappointed. For those of you that may not know, the Attack takes a still photo followed by a 30 second video. Here is the still photo and the resulting video. The video shows a nice interaction between the two 'chucks. At the beginning of the video, the male is off to the right of the screen. I don't want to spoil it all for you, but watch how he bites and rubs his cheeks on the vegetation. But it seems the female remains unimpressed:

Male woodchuck
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/12)

And the video:

This second video was taken a minute later, so I consider it all part of the same episode. Again, he tries to enter the hole and again he is met with a NO!!!

So we have seen the male marking the shrub and the vine that hangs near the entrance to the hole. now have a look at this last still and video. In the still, you can see the female sitting up and facing away from the camera. Check out her back. It appears that she is rubbing against it. Her fur is ruffled up and watch what she does in the video. She is active in the beginning and then seems to fall into a coma for about 15 seconds and then becomes active again at the end. First, the still:

Female woodchuck
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/12)

Now the video:

How long will this dance last? Has she rejected him every time? Who knows... And just as I was thinking of how to finish this blog entry I was distracted by the TV I have running for background noise. I am watching Season 2 of Futurama on Netflix (yep, I am THAT kind of geek). And LITERALLY just now the Professor says "The moment our eyes met we knew we would be going at it like woodchucks." (context is not important here, just relish the irony with me). If this male woodchuck is any indication, "going at it" takes a lot of patience and hard work... Perhaps tomorrow.

Woodchucks in love -- ?

Woodchuck
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/12)

The weather. The weather has just been amazing. Saturday was another warm and sunny day. Unfortunately, the cameras haven't been as cooperative. The set on the wetland hadn't produced a photo in about a week (but that WAS a nice merganser...). I tried one set with the camera pointing up the trunk of a shagbark hickory and that too was a bust. Finally, a third camera in the back yard has only been giving me run of the mill cottontail photos. On Saturday I decided to change them all...

So I determined one camera would go to the northern hedgerow where I hardly ever trap, one was destined for a metal post driven in the field where we see woodcock every year about this time (I tried this last year without success) and the third camera was going to go in the walnut tree in the back yard (the one with the knot hole in it) in hopes of a flying squirrel. But that all changed as I stepped out the back door and FROZE at the sight of two woodchucks on the edge of our mowed lawn.

Woodchuck bites
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/12)

One was reddish and sat still. The other was browner, gruffer and was constantly moving. I assumed that was the male. Twice I watched him approach the female, nose to nose and twice she vocalized and he jumped and backed away. After being rebuffed he would proceed to gnaw on branches and vines around the holes. This is a marking behavior, common to other squirrels besides woodchucks, where scent is deposited from glands at the corners of the mouth. The third time the male approached, he circled the female and tried to approach from behind but she would have none of that either. I slowly backed into the house, ran for the Nikon, changed lenses and eased the back door open only to find my wife standing in the driveway, having just returned from a bike ride. I managed the one photo above before the two woodchucks departed. That gave me the chance I needed to both set the camera trap and get some photos of the bite marks the male had left. This first photo shows some marks on the trunk of the shrub at the entrance of the hole. I watched him make these marks so they are nice and fresh. They are a little hard to see so I have another photo of them only closer.

In this photo, it is a little easier to see the bites. Again, it isn't the biting or the visual mark left behind but rather the scent that is most important. A few hours later I checked the camera, hoping for some photos of this behavior or perhaps some interaction between the two woodchucks. I got neither, but I did get some good photos such as:

and this expressive one:

and my only photo of the pair:

Seeing the pair together is a sure sign that it is breeding season as woodchucks are the least social of all the marmots in North America. The nice photos didn't stop there:

and a regal shot in the sun:

Sunday and Monday produced more photos but no photos of the scenting behavior. But I remembered a photo I got a few years ago, not 20 yards from this spot. At that time, I did not know about the scent marking behavior and wondered why this woodchuck would gnaw on such a thick branch. I now believe he was marking it with his sublingual glands...