We have our own groundhog. He lives in an unused shed. I last saw him in early January, after one of the bigger snowfalls, which makes me wonder about his hibernation habits. We don't know if our groundhog is male or female; for lack of a better identifier, we call him (or her) Red Fred.
If it turns out that Fred is female, we can call that short for Winifred, if necessary. But it is worth noting that Groundhog's day does seem to be a bit sexist, as the leading groundhogs trotted out for celebration seem to be male.
Fred seems to have mastered the fine art of living close enough to the dog areas to have some safety from other predators - notably eagles and hawks, including several bald eagles, and a great horned owl that lives in the area, and an active pack of coyotes.
I haven't seen Fred this morning, or recent tracks. So I'm guessing that we have a lot more winter ahead - but I expected that before the sun rose this morning, with or without the other Fred, or Phil, or all the rest.
