How much wood would a Woodchuck chuck ...... ?

Until yesterday, I had no idea that there were Woodchucks (also called Groundhogs) here in my part of Alberta! Yesterday, I was watching two Great Gray Owl owlets and realized that I hadn't noticed where the adult had flown to. After walking a while, I noticed a brown "bump" hidden in the grass and shrubs and thought that maybe this was the owl, having flown down to catch a Meadow Vole. However, when I walked a few closer, I found myself staring into the eyes of a creature that kind of reminded me of several animals, yet didn't feel familiar. I managed to get a couple of very poor photos of it in the grass before it suddenly ran across the road and diisappeared from sight. Had to wait till I got home and could do a Google search before I learned what it was! The fact that a huge gravel truck and trailer were barrelling down the gravel road towards me, was a distraction and concern. Another couple of seconds and the truck might have hit the quite large animal! I was also concerned about my own safety, otherwise I might have tried to get a road-crossing shot! There was a fairly constant flow of these huge trucks yesterday, delivering gravel to cover the muddy road after all the rain we've been getting, but the timing of this particular one couldn't have been worse, lol! One driver came to a stop when he saw the adult owl on a fencepost - said it had been years since he'd seen one. A young couple also stopped later, to tell me that they had seen another Great Gray on their drive. I was shaking my heard the whole drive back home, thinking about how lucky I have been in the last two days (few weeks!), seeing so many "new" things.

www.srd.alberta.ca/FishWildlife/WildSpecies/Mammals/Rabbi...