Wood Chuck

Description:

The woodchuck or groundhog is the largest member of the squirrel family in the Adirondacks and has grizzled, coarse fur. Above, the fur is brown to blackish brown, tipped with buffy yellow, white or cinnamon brown, except for the top of the head and most of the tail. The underparts are yellowish orange to chestnut. The cheeks and chin are buffy white to pale brown. Black (melanistic), partially black, or more commonly, blackish brown color phases, the guard hairs glossy (and lacking light) colored tips, are common. The body is compact, the legs short and thick, the head broad, short, and flat. The bushy tail is short, about 10- 15 cm (4-6 in) in length. The short, rounded ears and eyes are located at the top of the head, enabling a woodchuck to survey the area around the burrow without exposing most of the head. Large woodchucks are approximately 60 cm (24 in) in length, and weigh 13-33 kg (6-12 lb), the heavier weight typical of individuals entering hibernation.

Habitat:

The range is most of Canada, east-central Alaska, and much of the eastern half of the U.S. except for parts of the South and Southeast. The woodchuck is most abundant in the pastures, fields, and meadows of the Adirondack Park’s periphery, but it occurs throughout the entire region within the clearings, meadows, and edges of roadways and deciduous and mixed forests to elevations of at least 713 m (2340 ft). Roadsides and villages are places where the woodchuck is most common in the central Adirondacks. Woodchucks live in burrows which they dig in dry, well-drained soils. Burrows may consist of simple tunnels about 15 cm (6 in) in diameter, or a series of interconnecting tunnels. The main entrance, marked by a fan-shaped mound of dirt and usually located at the edge of a large boulder or log, is about twice the diameter of a tunnels. One or more plunge holes, dug from within a tunnel and therefore lacking dirt mounds, serve as inconspicuous auxiliary entrances. Burrow systems, especially those used by succeeding generations of woodchucks, may extend 15-30 m (50-100 ft) in length, but rarely exceed 2 m (6 ft) in depth. The nest is a ball-shaped structure of plant fibers which a wood chuck builds in an underground chamber approximately 38 cm (15 in) in diameter. Woodchucks may have several burrows, generally following pathways 10-15 cm (4-6 in ) wide among them, and they may leave summer burrows in open areas to spend the winter in a burrow located in a nearby wooded area.

Notes:

Wood chuck living under a shed in my yard