Another exciting adventure from the Wilds of New Hampshire.

Second thing is the locals

We got to notice the groundhogs more and more often --- for a while. They were tricky creatures, slipping in and out of sight and popping up just when you least expect it.

Sparrow watched them closely and thought about them, wary at first, but curious.

*Sparrow*

There was a Mama and a Papa and a boy and a girl. I never did get to know their names but they certainly left an impression. The first time I spotted one he had stopped for a moment, mid pasture. Maybe his job is like Mr. O!’s, our Rooster.

They both spend the day keeping watch. But this one was also chattering warnings and whistling when startled.
Oh he had big bottom teeth and his front claws were fierce looking, but he was kinda cute, from a distance, slinking around munching on greens and flowers.

We met Mama later as she was feasting on a bit of clover. I, personally, go for that kinda stuff whenever I see it, but confrontation with those claws was not in my future.

The first time I ran into Boyo (that is what I'll call him), he had found a fine treat. Wish I had found it first but he did leave a few crumbs in the grass and I pecked them up as soon as he ran off. Always running off, those guys. You’d think they were the chickens.

The littlest one didn't show up right away. I'll call her Kato, and I ran into her munching on what looked like an early strawberry. A little sour for my taste but we all have our own favs, right?

I like 'em fresh from the caretaker, with some oatmeal mixed in. Add a few nuts and seeds and I am right there for it. But she liked that sour stuff, I guess.

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So gradually we all "met" out in the open but they always scurried off. Even if it was just the caretaker wandering around they always took off in a flash. No idea where they disappeared to but we soon got used to seeing them darting here and there. Sometimes they found the best treats first, but sometimes we did, ha ha!

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Now we have a sweet setup with our own luxury coop and a little protected run and then, of course, the big fenced in garden but these guys had a burrow in the perennial garden. We liked to stomp paths through the tall flowers looking for bugs so it was a real shock one day when Boyo popped out, chattering away, defending his home. That time he had us running off like chickens.

He surreptitiously followed us when we moved off to see if any worms had emerged in the garden since morning.

The zucchini and green beans were just beginning to flourish, looking so full and ripe and juicy, so he zipped on through the gate behind us and began devouring everything as fast as he could. Sated, he moved back to his burrow but soon returned with Kato and Mama and Papa. Feasting in earnest, they demolished the whole crop of green beans and all the zucchini and its leaves that afternoon. This became their daily stop, munching on these plants as new greens emerged.

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Guess what?

The caretaker noticed when she came out to the garden for her daily supper foraging.

Shock!

We had been pecking away on the young tomato plants too so the garden was looking pretty battered according to her reaction. Soon new barriers were put up to keep us all out of most of the garden.

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As it turned out, some old guy started coming by their burrow every day and one by one the groundhogs disappeared. Kato was in the garden at the time, trapped inside the new fencing so she burrowed in among the tall flowers and got to live right next to her favorite treats.

The caretakers were perplexed when the produce continued to disappear. The groundhogs were all gone, or so they thought.

(We knew that Kato was trapped in the garden but she certainly had plenty to eat.)

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Sparrow watched this sad state of affairs. Poor Kato was alone and frightened. She cried and chattered. Where was her Mama?

Maybe Sparrow could imagine a way to help…something like the clever GloBuff trick. The chickens were all fenced outside that part of the garden. What could this clever Sparrow do to help this odd garden mate? Sparrow called a meeting with her wise sisters.

*As chick bits they used to conspire for mutual benefit; they could do it again.*

This unhappy but sated girl needs to get back with her family. The food is good here but she needs her family.

Our caretakers do a pretty good job but they don’t listen to our concerns. We would need to turn this problem into effective action!

The sun disappeared as it did every day, so we retired to our chicken house, hoping for inspired dreams.

Ah!, the morning sun rose, Mr. O! crowed, and we all clamored to be out of the chicken run.

When the caretaker showed up we were ready for action.

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I've kept a little secret from you. I have powers too!

I can influence the minds of people, like the caretaker. She may care for us but she doesn't understand us. When she came to open the gate to begin the day I subliminally stimulated her mind so she suddenly KNEW that Kato was trapped inside the garden fence, munching her way through the vegetables.. She stepped over the inner fencing to look through the perennial flowers thinking she just had a bright idea that one more groundhog might be in there. She never knew what hit her mind, but off she went to get the Havahart.

Kato was trapped!

Mr. Caretaker hauled her out to the state forest and, my influence again--ha! ha!, it was the very same place that old guy had taken the rest of the family!

Reunited and finding the forest was abundantly supplied with other delights for the groundhog palate, they sent a note later that day to thank me for my intervention.

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Images of the groundhogs, because I never have a camera with me for spontaneous shots, are from Pixabay. The chickens are mine.