sjwiggins85's Identifications

Road-kill woodchuck seen along rte 22 in Addison, Vt. I didn't enjoy taking it's picture but remembered the article about road kill so it's for the Atlas.

Info from "Wildlife damage management fact sheet"

"The woodchuck (Marmota monax)—also
known as the groundhog or whistle pig—
is one of the largest members of the squirrel family and is closely related to other
North American marmots. Historically,
woodchucks were less common than they
are today. As forests were cleared for
farms, pastures, and orchards, settlers
provided suitable habitat and the woodchuck population expanded. Today, this
highly adaptable mammal commonly
inhabits farm fields, idle lands, and suburban neighborhoods."

I was out birding along lake Champlain and came across a dead possum in the road a little farther down the road from the woodchuck which was also dead in the road. For the VT Atlas took photo of opossum. EEW! Anyhow for the road-kill section.

This little fellow is named Buddy. His family has lived in a stone wall outside my home for many generations. We feed them black sunflower seeds and berries. He loves blueberries but does not seem fond of raspberries.

Based on tree damage last year, it was apparent the pond had a beaver.
The beaver was very active in the early evening; swimming in the open water, climbing on land (when I saw that there were two beavers) and getting within 50 feet of me.
The tree in the water is across the pond where the two beavers were dining.
I have not seen them since 3/27/15.

My nearest winter neighbor is a river otter. In the spring when the ice melts, one or two will sometimes eat lunch on the ice (usually two fish each) outside my dining room window. I think this is a sunfish, but I could be wrong. This was at 2 PM while I ate an upside down pineapple cake. The river is totally missing on the attached map.