Minnesota’s groundhogs stay tucked in elaborate underground homes long after February

When Groundhog Day approaches each year, people are typically getting antsy for winter to wind down.

But that’s when the largest member of the ground squirrel family gets its moment to shine. In more than 80 locations in the United States and Canada, people use its emergence from its burrow as a chance to prognosticate an early spring or six more weeks of winter, depending on whether the critter can see its shadow.

The best-known groundhog, Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil, has been keeping this tradition since 1886, but there are many more, including Beauregard Lee in Georgia, Buckeye Chuck in Ohio and New York’s Staten Island Chuck.

Historians tie the tradition to ancient festivals marking the midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox. Germans are credited for using the shadow of a newly emerged burrowing animal (such as a hedgehog or badger) to predict a potentially fruitful growing season. The Pennsylvania Dutch brought the tradition to the United States and created Groundhog Day.

In Minnesota, the creatures are typically called woodchucks. They stay in their burrows until late March or early April, when they can find insects, plants, fruits and vegetables and occasional snacks of bird eggs.

As expert diggers, they can burrow a 5-foot tunnel in a single day. Their underground warrens include a bathroom chamber, a winter hibernation den and a nursery area. Females have their babies, usually four to six, by May, after early spring mating.

When moms take their “kits” or “chucklings” above ground, they’ll let out a shrill whistle of warning if they sense danger is near. That gives woodchucks yet another moniker: whistlepig.

While there’s no evidence linking Groundhog Day shadows to an accurate forecast, woodchucks do offer a furry diversion and a bit of humor when humans begin yearning for the lighter days of spring.

Lisa Meyers McClintick has freelanced for the Minnesota Star Tribune since 2001 and volunteers as a Minnesota Master Naturalist.