Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Singing Woodchuck

I was planning on telling you a very different story today, but I just had to tell you about what happened with this Woodchuck(Groundhog) while I was on my way home the other day. I'm sure you have an idea of what I'm going to tell you from the title of the post, but you have to read the story so I explain this all the way.

I have seen the woodchuck in these pictures plenty of times already. It's very close to where I live. I don't talk about him much because I can't get very good pictures of him. These are the best I can do because he is just too far away. The story I'm about to tell you is too strange to hold back just because of inferior photos though.

While I was on my way home from the nature park, I spotted him in this same place again, but he was much closer this time. I pulled my truck over to try and get some better shots of him, but as you can see, it still wasn't quite close enough. I knew not to get out of the truck because every other time this woodchuck ran away immediately when I did that.

I chose to just roll down the window and try to take my pictures from inside the truck. The one thing I forgot to do was turn down the music I was listening to. As I usually do, I happened to be listening to Queen. Freddie Mercury was right in the middle of singing Bohemian Rhapsody. I listen to it so often that I had forgotten that it might disturb this animal.

I realized my mistake right in the middle of taking my pictures, because there was a new sound coming from outside the truck. It went right along with the song, but it wasn't part of it, and it had never been there before. It was a high pitched singing sound, and it was coming from the woodchuck!

When I realized what was happening, I began to notice that the woodchuck had its head cocked towards the sky as if it were listening, and it really did appear to be singing. That's kind of an unmistakable thing to notice. I turned down the volume on the stereo to attempt to hear it more clearly. But as I did, the woodchuck stopped its singing and looked back to the ground. It was done.

It's always possible I imagined all of this somehow, but I don't think so. I had never heard the sound of a woodchuck before, so I decided to do a little research. They actually do make a sound that's very similar to this at times, but only if they are hurt or in a fight.

The difference was that this was a much more pleasant sound, and this woodchuck was clearly just fine. It had stopped to listen while the music was playing, and went back about its business when I turned the sound down. It never seemed to be in distress in any way at all. It really looked as if it was enjoying itself while the music was playing.

The only conclusion I can draw from this is that this woodchuck likes music, and it must be a fan of Queen. What do you think? Have you ever seen an animal listening to music, or even singing along? Was this one of the strangest things you've ever read?

15 comments:

  1. Hi Ratty, that is a strange story! But a cool one. I really don't know what a woodchuck is, but it looks kind of cute to me, I bet it's even cuter whilst screeching along to Freddie! I look forward to the day you get some closer pictures so I can see what these groundhogs are all about :)

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  2. It is a fantastic discovery. The Woodchuck sang along with Queen.
    How great it is, let's invite him for disco, rock n roll!!!!

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  3. How wonderful to encounter such sound! You must had have a great time observing

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  4. u know they say that music soothes the savage beast. well you experienced that first hand...hehehe. another exciting adventure.

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  5. That Woodchuck must be a reincarnation of Freddie Mercury! That's the only explanation!
    Imagine you been sent back to earth from a popular singer to become a Woodchuck, you was minding your own biz, feeling gloomy everytime you remembered your glorious day, then suddenly a truck stop in front of you. A man open his window and your music are heard once again! Of course you will sing along! You wish to hold hand and dance together with that man in the truck, but then he simply continued his journey...

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  6. What a great story! I don't know much about woodchucks, but that is so interesting! Sometimes my dogs like to listen to music, but they don't usually sing....they may howl if they music is loud enough though!

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  7. Toooo funny! You needed to turn the music back on and UP and see what he did. If you see him out there again, slap in the CD and roll down your window and play it loud! There will be a repeat experiment.
    You find the neatest things. I love that.

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  8. The Woodchuck must be a Freddy Mercury fan!LOL

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  9. Hi! I have never heard of anything like this, but they say music soothes the savage beast. I don't think of a ground hog as a savage beast, but it is an animal and Queen is just good listening.

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  10. That is just way too cool. At least the woodchuck has good taste in music

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  11. I wish you has video recorded it. That would be so amusing.

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  12. it must be wonderful just listening to it. yeah, i join rainfield, let us rock and roll :)

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  13. That is quite the story Ratty!! I wish one of mine would make a noise just once. I have one older one and a younger one. The young one runs when I try to open the window but the older one comes closer and begs. But in all these years I've never heard a sound from any of them. That was neat for you to hear that..

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  14. What a strange but wonderful story. Imagine finding a Woodchuck with such great taste in music. When the photos are enlarged he can be seen quite well, he's cute.

    SQ

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  15. Thanks everyone for your comments. I'll try to play more music for the woodchuck if I see him again. I wonder if he'll dance this time.

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