The photo on the left is our Hav-a-Heart trapped baited with broccoli, the image on the left a fat woodchuck in Massachusetts. I am hopeful that the fat brown rear end of a woodchuck we saw scurrying across our driveway on Sunday night didn’t move down here from Massachusetts. I also hope that the creature didn’t successfully swim over from the meadows across the Connecticut River where we relocated one a while back. I suspect, rather, that this is a literate woodchuck who, reading my most recent posts, realized the eatings were good in our yard and has moved in.
Because the previous animal ate all of my sunflowers, my husband bought two potted sunflowers and transplanted them in the empty spot in the garden. Figuring that the word had gotten out to the local woodchucks that there were new sunflowers to eat, the trap is sitting next to the new sunflowers. We should soon learn if sunflowers or broccoli appeal more to this new invader.
I have been surprised by the variety of wild animals in our neighborhood, including skunks, possums, deer, foxes, rabbits and, or course, woodchucks. Almost no new development has occurred here, so the neighboring woods and wetlands have stayed pretty intact for many years, allowing the animals to successfully survive. Birds abound here too, with eagles nesting along the river and many smaller birds nesting in the trees. This year woodpeckers have been particularly abundant with more young ones surviving than I have seen in the past. On balance the joys of living among all these creatures almost compensates for the ravenous woodchuck. Almost!
Saved By Words 
We don’t have woodchucks, and I am sorry that they eat your stuff. But they are chubby and cute, it has to be said! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
😳
LikeLike
Maybe I should catch it and send it over!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ready to receive! 🙂
LikeLike
Ha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmm, little thieves….
LikeLike
That woodchuck looks very much like the marmot I saw munching on wildflowers at Paradise this week. I never realized they are in the same family. And I agree with you that it’s wonderful to have lots of wildlife around. Sorry they like to eat your flowers though! 🙂
LikeLike
My husband agrees that they must be related.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How much bait
could a woodchuck hate
if a woodchuck hate
if a woodchuck could hate bate?
If I were a woodchuck and broccoli is the bait, I could hate a lot of bait!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Correction: skip the third line of my woodchuck poem above. The poem should appear like this:
How much bait
could a woodchuck hate
if a woodchuck could hate bait?
Sorry about that.
LikeLike
Great adaptation.
LikeLike
We have the same animals you have. Our excitement this spring was dealing with a sick skunk. He died on neighbor Joyce’s driveway, and neighbor Bob buried him.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not rabid I hope.
LikeLike
We don’t know if the skunk was rabid. Would you have a dead animal tested?
LikeLike
No. Just wondering if you had seen it before it died.
LikeLike
I never saw the skunk up close. I did see it stumble around in the pasture.
LikeLike
Oh no Elizabeth! We recently had a Tawny Frogmouth fall out of our Jacaranda tree, hubby took him to the vet as he seemed very sick. They had to euthanize it as it had neurological problems bought on by a disease 😦
Bless you,
Jennifer
LikeLike
I loved the phrase “Tawny Frogmouth fall out of our Jacaranda tree.” I don’t recognize any of those and had to look them up. Almost another language.
LikeLike
They’re a strange animal quite large for a bird, probably the size of a normal backyard egg laying hen.
LikeLike
I loved the pictures I saw of them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
First time I’ve seen one. We don’t have them here.
LikeLike
Do you have other small animals that eat your flowers?
LikeLiked by 1 person
We don’t have any, occasionally though, I find snails in some corners of the garden.
LikeLike
I am glad you don’t have them munching on your garden.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, we’re lucky.
LikeLike
Such a cute little guy!
LikeLike
Agh. I can see he would be cute in someone else’s yard!
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL
LikeLike
I hope you an catch him before he eats your beautiful garden.
LikeLike
Me too.
LikeLike
Thinking back to your recent neighbourhood post, your environment sounds better and better in many respects but I do share the difficulties of balancing the joy of wildlife against the damage it can inflict on our gardens. We have deer which nibble off rose buds to eat. They also bite of the buds of day lilies but clearly dislike the taste so leave them lying about the plants. That’s deeping annoying! And your woodchuck is very cute!
LikeLike
He would be cuter if he were thinner!
LikeLike
You will just have to factor in a proportion of your plant growth for the woodchucks. Then you will both be happy. I try and do this when I fill the incubator wyth eggs in spring – some for us and a few for the goshawk.
LikeLike
I like that idea.
LikeLike