Who Wakes the Groundhog? Ronald Rood.

Who Wakes the Groundhog?
Ronald rood
New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
1973

Why read it? This book is packed with interesting facts about insects, birds and animal life. The question in the title is about how life in nature experiences the seasons. If one studies nature, the seasons are not clearly marked as they are on the calendar. A complex set of circumstances often has to occur for insect, bird and animal life to flourish. The seasons flow from one to the other with some flora and fauna who are early and some who are laggard. The champion season jumper is the Arctic tern who spends his time at both poles and who rarely sees the sunset. From reading this book, I realize how unobservant I am about life around me.

Some interesting ideas from the book:
Most insects do not live long enough to see their offspring. The porcupines' lovemaking raises bizarre sounds that frighten even seasoned woodsmen. The broken-wing technique of protecting the birds' young and the attack of the robins on a would-be egg-stealing crow. Beware the moose in rutting season. The diseased ruffed grouse who hurls itself through the author's window.

Male wasps don't sting. You can tell him by a yellow forehead and a yellow underside. The female is all chocolate. But most memorable is the saga of the female bee worker who works to gather honey until she literally drops dead and becomes food for a mouse's litter. Life must go on.

"This strange snowdrift, it turned out, was the body of a slumbering bear. Although the black bear normally shuns contact with humans, there was no telling what this creature would do when it found itself face to face with an intruder. Befogged by sleep, the bear's bleary eyes failed to discern the skier, who stood rooted to the spot. The animal returned to its nap while my friend, who said his heart was pounding so hard he was sure it would wake the bear again, waited five minutes before setting a new woodland cross-country ski record."

"Beavers of all ages lay up food by jamming young hardwood saplings, butt-first, into the mud of the pond. Poplar, or aspen as it is often called, is the favorite. As long as the sapling is fully submerged, it will remain fresh and green for months."

"Very seldom is anyone stung by wasps or hornets before July. Even then a small colony of wasps is much less apt to sting an intruder than is a large colony. Apparently there is boldness in numbers--a trait possessed by humans too. Hence, the peppery insects are more even-tempered in July than in August, say, when the population of their paper city has been bolstered by several hundred of their younger sisters. Another reason might be that their moods are more aggressive because of the crowded condition of the nest. Too many people living in confined quarters tend to get on each other's nerves. Could be the same for wasps and hornets."

"The way in which the firefly's glow is produced is also a question. Although it is known that it involves a chemical, luciferin, which is combined with oxygen to produce the familiar light, scientists have been unable to duplicate the process in the laboratory. Giving out almost all its energy in the form of 'cold light,' luciferin is more efficient than our incandescent bulbs, which squander energy as heat. Even fluorescent tubes hum and become warm and struggle along at a fraction of the efficiency of the familiar, unknown glow on the after-section of a firefly. Apparently, the light of the fireflies serves to bring the sexes together."

And on and on, story after story, fact after fact, about the natural world around us.

Quote: "It was one of those splendid days when the crunch of the snowshoes and the joy of living were all anyone would ever wish."

Quote: "Like the rest of his woodland neighbors, he had little respect for the calendar anyway."