Our local groundhog, Hanford Hank, has not seen his shadow today, and so I believe that, here in the Pacific Northwest at least, spring will indeed arrive in six weeks as it should.
Our closest encounters with groundhogs are their cousins the hoary marmots in the meadows of Mt. Rainier.
These guys will not even poke their heads above ground until late April at the earliest. At that time they are skinny little dudes, having hibernated since the previous September. They set out to eat their way through the spring and summer meadows, dining on grasses and wildflowers, lichens and mosses until they have doubled and more their girth, ready with a lovely layer of fat to carry them through another winter of sleep.
We met this marmot in July last year.
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5 comments:
Why did the WA one not see its shadow? The sun is shining!!!!!!!! One lousy snowfall does not a winter make. sigh
Aha! I saw one little peek of the sun over on the hills a little while ago, so I don't know. Based on this morning, Hanford Hank says spring in six weeks. Do you have a local groundhog in Vancouver? Maybe the westside gets six more weeks of winter and we get spring in six weeks over here. (LOL--do the math.)
Winter has definitely been rather wimpy in our part of the world this year. I guess it's payback for last year's abundance.
That's a great shot. When I point my camera at a marmot he is usually scurrying in the opposite direction.
No sun in Lincoln but we had plenty in LA over the weekend. I'm ready for the clouds to leave but we do need all the rain we can get.
Your little Marmot looks just like a "buck-toothed" beaver to me. Either way we have enjoyed the calmer Winter here in WW, too much rain though...
Our snowdrops are just waiting for the sun to shine to reveal their faces.
I love the swinging pics too.
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