A Wisconsin Badger
WHILE CHASING DRAGONFLIES HERE IN WISCONSIN, I found the state animal watching me from its newly dug burrow in Flambeau River State Forest. It neither growled nor flashed its teeth. (Can’t have everything.) One photo, then it was gone, into the coolness on a hot day.
A badger in Wisconsin. Go figure. Now to find a wolverine in Michigan, a grizzly in California, a panther in Florida ….
14 comments
I could go with that hypothesis!
Hmmmmm – could be, Bryan! Maybe he just ate a filling meal, dug a hole and was ready for a nap when you came along. He does look sleepy – just like I look after a satisfying meal 🙂 .
Thanks, Ginny! Yeah, that was an odd pile of sand. Wonder and incisiveness – they help a lot outside. I think I might see blood under that badger’s nose with that sand?
What an amazing opportunity for you to see and photograph the badger! I think it’s great that you even got the one shot considering how secretive they are. That’s the naturalist in you :). That love of nature makes us all very inquisitive and we know to check out everything that looks “different” or “out of place” i.e. the sand pile. Most people wouldn’t even have noticed that :). By the way, I love all the sandy particles on the Badger’s face! He must have been digging quite furiously just before you discovered him. Thanks for sharing a great photo.
You know you’re a field naturalist when ….
“… when treed by a grizzly, you look down and enjoy the show.”
“… when attacked by a wolverine, you figure, ‘Well, I’m assuming my place on the food chain.'”
What a pleasing photo! I saw a badger a few years ago, while I was visiting Grand Island, Nebraska, to watch a few thousand Sandhill Cranes on the North Platte, at Crane Meadows, but sadly the badger was a roadkill victim — not a good way for an English wildlife watcher to be introduced to American badgers!
I’d be more wary of the wolverine than of the grizzly. They are TOUGH little suckers . . . actually, not so little. Pound for pound, probably the most ferocious animal on the planet.
Elementary, my dear Michele!
I am really impressed Brian! You are a Sherlock of the natural world.
Oh, I want to be a badger too. I mean SEE.
Thanks, GreenMtnGrrl! Yeah, a fortuitous encounter. I did notice that big pile of sand and wondered what the heck it was.
I wish he were a little more pissed! I wanted teeth in that shot! 🙂
He still looks pissed!
Wow. So cool! I have spent a lot of time in Wisconsin without ever seeing a badger. Great shot, Brian!