As I was exploring Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge earlier this week, I spotted an unusual shape in a small tree. I moved a little closer and zoomed in with my camera and discovered that it was a fairly large animal. It was bigger than a squirrel, so my initial thought was that it was a raccoon or an opossum, but as I studied my viewfinder, I quickly rejected those possibilities.
What was the animal? When I uploaded the images to my computer, the facial features reminded me of a beaver, but the visible portions of the animal’s tail look to be hairy, so I eliminated both the beaver and the muskrat. Grasping at straws, I started looking at photos of porcupines, but they didn’t match at all what I was seeing in the photo. Finally I came across some photos of a Groundhog (Marmota monax) and I realized that I had finally found a match.
I guess that the name “groundhog” threw me off, because I expected a groundhog to be on the “ground,” not in a tree and I can’t imagine a “hog” climbing a tree. According to Wikipedia, groundhogs, also known as woodchucks, “occasionally climb trees when escaping predators or when they want to survey their surroundings.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Wow! I wouldn’t have expected that either! Learned something new and it’s a great picture. 🙂
I love their less-used name of ‘Whistle Pig’ 🤣 And yes, I’ve seen my neighborhood one in trees… Mostly running away from people walking their dogs.
Whistle-Pig? That is a nickname I have not heard, though I must confess that I can count on one hand the number of times that I have encountered a groundhog.
I had no idea that groundhogs could climb, and I didn’t know that a groundhog also is known as a woodchuck. That goes pretty far toward explaining the old ditty:
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could and would?
I still don’t know the answer to that one!
Perhaps he was determining how much wood he could chuck. I recommend returning and looking for evidence of chucked wood.
Well I never. I see groundhogs all the time – several per day when the season is right – but I have never seen one in a tree before. I would not have imagined they would scale trees. You’ve educated me once again!
I’ve seen them before, but never in a tree, Mike. Great capture.
Thanks, Dan. I love the way that my adventures constantly surprise me and often wonder what animals might be doing when we aren’t around.
Looks like a young one. Perhaps hiding from a hungry eagle!
Never heard of such s thing! Great photo and info.
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