Wildlife Babies, Other Creatures
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This story is a pictorial view of our yard and some of its inhabitants
The photo captures a woodchuck (groundhog) baby, recently weaned, nibbling on a weed. The baby’s diet will consist of plants, some of them from my perennial garden, and grasses.
Moma Woodchuck, top photo, displays evidence of recent feeding of her offspring. Mama feels her babies (pups or kits) for about 6 weeks, introducing tender greens from the yard as her babies grow.
The pup above devoured the back side of my phlox, ignoring the catmint and lavender plants behind it.
In the top photo, a Chickadee is poking his or her head out of their chosen house. Selecting housing is competitive, and like humans, location matters. We provide a variety of nesting boxes, all with small entrances to accommodate small songbirds. A family of house wrens occupies a birdhouse hanging from the same tree, the nests about a foot apart.
In the second photo, the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. The male has colorful plumage but the female is anything but drab with her white streaks and patterns. These birds arrive the first week of May to breed and begin to migrate south in August. These long-distance flyers migrate to central and northern South America.
