Mid-Michigan is just starting to feel the beginnings of fall as summer comes to a close. And soon enough, we’ll be ready to be done with the cold weather of winter.
Every year, many locals look to the state’s official groundhog, Woody the Woodchuck of the Howell Nature Center, in the hope that she’ll predict an early spring.
Now, it’s less than six months until Groundhog Day, and Woody is taking part in one of her favorite hobbies: eating.
"She usually loves anything green, so the cucumber, zucchini, peppers, but their favorite is definitely getting to eat their little nuts,” said Jen Ewing, the nature center’s curator of wildlife care and education.
Despite her easy life now, Woody did have some tough beginnings.
“Woody came into the Howell Nature Center in 1998, a farmer killed her family, and so she was orphaned,” Ewing said.
But Woody bounced back and has been predicting the weather on Groundhog Day at the Nature Center ever since.
Now 26 years might seem like too long a lifespan for your typical woodchuck, but let’s just say she's as immortal as her colleague, the 138-year-old Punxsutawney Phil.
“She is more accurate than Punxsutawney Phil by, like, a significant amount,” Ewing added.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Punxsutawney Phil has been correct in his predictions about 30% of the time in the past decade. The Howell Nature Center boasts Woody’s track record at nearly 70% accuracy.
Instead of sleeping in a burrow in the winter, Woody stays cozy inside with a heater, soft pillows and plenty of enrichment. But Ewing says the woodchuck doesn’t use that as an excuse to predict more cold weather.
"There's definitely some perks for wintertime, but spring is also a very exciting time for them,” Ewing said.
Woody is an important ambassador for her species because while groundhogs can be nuisance, the animals have an important role to play, Ewing says. Their burrows provide habitats for other animals and insects.
"They actually help aerate the soil as which is really part of a healthy ecosystem, and we should really want to try to live in harmony with our woodchuck friends.”
Ewing says some ways to discourage groundhogs from properties is to make the area undesirable for them. That could include blocking off access underneath porches or pouring vinegar near den sites to block their sense of smell.
Luckily, Woody doesn’t have to worry about any of that in her nature center habitat.
“She'll lay fully on her back. And then, if you catch her at just the right moment, she snores, and then you see her little teeth poke out when you walk in there,” Ewing said. “It's the most precious sight.”
With plenty of time before her big day in February, all Woody has to do is relax, and probably enjoy another almond or two.
