Camera Critters: A Look At Eastern Wood Chucks

The Eastern Woodchuck is an animal, which shares many physical characteristics with the Marmot, which inhabits the western states. This animal likely derived its' name from originally being a woodland species. It adapted well to the presence of man and developed a preference for crops. They are notorious for damaging hayfields and gardens. Their place of abode is holes, which they dig into the earth. Livestock sometimes breaks legs by stepping in these holes and they can damage farming equipment. The animals also dig the holes along foundations of buildings. It is common to find them in close proximity to humans where an aggressive extermination program is not implemented.

Hunting these animals is termed "varmint hunting" and some pursue them throughout the warm weather months, often killing large numbers of them.

If they are in an area where they do not cause the above problems, they are beneficial animals with the holes providing escape routes for other species of wildlife such as rabbits, to elude predators.

Adult Woodchuck: Canon 10-D 500mmF4

This animal is pictured in a clover field which was planted solely as a wildlife feeding area, so its' presence was not a problem and the animals are not culled in this area. This is one of my favorite woodchuck shots because of the animal rubbing its' eye. The animals ordinarily travel and feed in a horizontal position with all four feet on the ground, but they repeatedly stand erect to survey the countryside for danger.

A unique opportunity occurred today when friends were loading fence posts from the lower story of a backcountry barn and uncovered a nest of young chucks. There was no opportunity for photos there due to it being too dark, so one of the chucks was carried into the open for a photographic session.

Ordinarily one is told not to handle the young of wildlife, but in this case the animal was immediately released back into the wild and I have no reason to believe that the brief human contact will cause the mother to abandon the young animal. It is not as though we were searching for a nest to photograph, but rather the nest was inadvertently disturbed in removing the posts and we seized the opportunity to photograph one of the young animals.

Juvenile Eastern Woodchuck: Canon 40D: 17-40mmF4L

It is likely that this animal was born within the last week or so and is quite young indeed!

Major natural predators that keep woodchuck populations under control in many cases are coyotes, and foxes.

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