No. 33 - Woodchuck Day

Today is Woodchuck Day or, more commonly referred to as, Groundhog Day. Except that a groundhog is just another name for a woodchuck. When I was growing up we learned this tongue-twister, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" It was a woodchuck. Not a groundhog. The saying wasn't, "How much ground would a groundhog hog if a groundhog could hog ground?" Apparently it also goes by the name whistle-pig and land-beaver, but I can't even imagine how those tongue-twisters go.

We have at least one woodchuck in our backyard. It's fun to watch but he gets spooked easily. I didn't know that the woodchuck is part of the squirrel family, but it makes sense. If you slimmed down the belly (a lot!) it has a noticeable resemblance to the squirrels who also call our backyard home. Apparently, despite its considerable girth, woodchucks are great at climbing trees, but I have yet to see that.

The name woodchuck is not related to wood or chucking (whatever that might be in the context of a fat squirrel). It comes from the Algonquin name for the animal, wuchak.

I also learned that our Canadian friends up north have a counterpart to our Punxsutawney Phil. His name is Wiarton Willie, named for Wiarton, Ontario.