Also living along Race Street: Groundhog

(c) Greg Saulmon 2012

Even if you only count the hawks, kestrels and geese, Race Street is quite the urban wildlife corridor.

But it’s not just birds. I’ve spotted this groundhog several times, too.

The entrance to its den is in a basement window well of an empty building — I usually watch to see if its poking its head up from there. It’s a shy creature, and I’ve only managed a few shots of it, mostly at quite a distance, before Sunday morning.

But on Sunday I spotted it foraging along the fence between the street and the canal. It wiggle under the fence, eat some greenery at the side of the road, and then retreat to the bank.

I waited until one of its short retreats and then set myself up a short distance away, guessing where it would pop out next. I got lucky — it emerged from the grass just a few dozen feet away, and kept wandering closer to me as it stopped to munch.

A car finally startled it, and it scrambled back under the fence and disappeared.