A baby woodchuck

We've had our eyes on the brush pile in the way back of the yard this spring (home of a large woodchuck), but so far the garden has been spared from woodchuck foraging, probably because of the tender young grass shoots everywhere.

Returning home after a weekend away, my first inclination is to make the rounds to check on plants (does anything need watering, how are the transplants I shoved in the hay bales just before leaving doing, etc.). All looked good, and I was harvesting snow peas in the satellite garden, when I looked behind me.

On the bed closest to the shrub border, hunkered down among the eggplants was an small baby woodchuck being perfectly still. Surprised by its stillness and small size (it was about a third as large as an adult), it took me a moment or two to move towards it. Then, of course, it scuttled off towards Mom (I suppose) and their burrow in the brush pile. The youngster's tail was nothing like an adult's, being a spiky sparse brush-like thing.

Checking more closely, I realized that preferential woodchuck foraging over the weekend had resulted in the consumption of all of the carrot and kohlrabi tops in one satellite garden bed, and all of the cilantro in another. It's a good thing I have lots to spare, and the onions, garlic, potatoes, and tomatoes aren't particularly attractive. All of my young bean and squash plants are about 4 inches high now, and I do hope that fresh grasses and clovers are tastier!

Needless to say, the Havahart trap will be set again tomorrow morning, although I'm beginning to think some sort of garden fencing may be in my future plans.... or maybe I just keep sowing cilantro in succession all summer as a border -- clearly they love it!