How much wood would a woodchuck...it's a woodchuck! a.k.a. groundhog...


I finally figured out what those critters I saw at Highland Park are called. Silly me. It's a woodchuck, also known as a groundhog.

Today I also saw a great blue heron.



Today, I saw them again. Three of them, having dinner. For some reason, the name marmot came to me. So I looked it up on the 'net when I got home. That ultimately led me to this entry in my online World Book Encyclopedia:

Woodchuck, also called ground hog, is a small animal that belongs to the squirrel family. The woodchuck is a kind of marmot (see MARMOT). Woodchucks live in Canada and in the Eastern and Midwestern United States.

The picture included in the entry made the identification easy.

Silly me. Of course.

Today I took my ride late, starting at 5 p.m., although dark skies threatened rain. I had stuffed an umbrella in my backpack. Well, you can't ride a bike and carry an open umbrella, but it was a thought anyway. Got a few sprinkles, but no big deal.

I managed both Highland and Cobbs Hill, but decided to do just one loop around the reservoir. It was getting dark, and I still wanted to pay my respects to the geese.

So glad I did. Because today I received a special treat...I saw a great blue heron fishing in the pond. Now, I have seen them once or twice out in the country, and once, years ago, I saw one while bike riding down the Erie Canal path. But this, this was in the city. An amazing sight.

Of course, I did not have my camera, and anyway, a good photo would have been impossible in that light, because you could miss it altogether if you didn't look closely, the way it blended in with the gray of the pond under dark skies. Perhaps the color of the pond in that light is why it felt safe there.

I've also seen some more, different species of geese. Oh how I want to know the names of things! Somewhere I have a bird book on species to be found in the Northeast. Now...where did I put it!

Posted: Tue - October 11, 2005 at 09:13 PM          

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