nature story

As I was eating lunch at the dining room table with my kids this afternoon, I glanced out the window to see a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak on our feeder. I recognized it right away, thanks to Dawn's nature observations. Instead of searching out the camera (because it takes terrible pictures through dirty, screened windows) I called Adam, who was proud to have gotten me such a great birthday present! After hanging up, it wasn't long before he suddenly flew off, and I looked down to see this groundhog (aka woodchuck) walking towards the feeder! I have caught this guy lurking in our garden in the afternoon a few times over the last few months. Now I'm pretty sure that he was the culprit who was ripping the Tyvek off our bathroom/laundry room addition last October and he may be the varmint who kept eating our tomato plants this spring. I have tried getting a picture of him several times before, but he's a quick one and has remained elusive, running off to hide in our root cellar (could it be his burrow? we haven't been brave enough to go down there to find out yet). I'm afraid that we are not going to be able to live in peace with this furry rodent, as this gardener found out the hard way, and that we may also lose much of our garden if we neglect to relocate him. At any rate, here he is through my dirty, screened window: