RODENT SURPRISE!

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Originally uploaded by sunspotting.

Omigoodness, this little fella quite surprised us! He/She/Whatever (I didn't pick it up to find out its gender. Henceforward, out of respect, it will be IT.) waddled across the path with its parent. I have never seen a juvenile groundhog in the wild before! What a rare treat! It was so frightened, the poor thing, but (greedy me) I really wanted to take its picture, so I compromised. I know I could have gotten closer and been rewarded with a better quality picture. But I chose "should" over could, and stayed a respectful distance (8-10 feet) and got way more grass than critter. It huffed and hissed at me, and I fully expected the adult groundhog to come spitting out from the underbrush, but there was nothing. Poor little thing was left to fend for itself; still, it's probably about time for that. The size? It would have fit comfortably in a bowl made of my two hands. Slightly larger than a guinea pig. I really admired its pluck. Of course, these animals don't have a terribly aggressive form of defense. (I suspect there's a sort of rude claw gesture going on in the shaded area...) I hope I boosted its sense of self-preservation.