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Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Sleeping in the sun

  

It was another warm day, with temperatures reaching ~65°F on the coast today (3 February 2026).  I was checking on a few different things and was seeing quite a bit of insect activity (butterflies, bumblebees, and flies).  There was a nice breeze and it felt like one of those days when it would feel nice to take a nap in the sun, and then I happened upon a badger...sleeping in the sun!

The badger looked up for a moment, and looked pretty sleepy:

 
And then it nestled down for a nap.  
 
I walked quietly in a wide circle so as not to disturb the badger and took one more photo showing the badger lying in the grass next to its burrow:
 
 
Any sighting of a badger feels special, but I especially enjoyed this view of one at rest, with the sunshine on its back and the breeze blowing across its fur.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If a badger sees its shadow on February 3, does that tell us something about the arrival of spring? ES

Jackie Sones said...

That's funny, that question also crossed my mind! I guess we'll have to ask the badger! :)

Limantour walker said...

Was that bold of you to walk a circle around him/her to get another shot? I think of badgers as being pretty vicious when challenged! In any case, thanks for documenting this!

Jackie Sones said...

Hi!

Well, I generally haven't been that close to a badger, and I'm sure they'd defend themselves if they felt threatened. However, most of the times I've seen them have been from a distance and they seem more interested in doing their own thing and not really interested in being around people.

In this case, I was closer to the badger than expected because I hadn't known it was there. But the badger pretty quickly put its head down and went to sleep, and I didn't want to disturb it, so I was trying to move farther away and quietly so I could leave the area without disturbing it. Although I didn't describe it well the first time, the "wide circle" was so I didn't disturb the badger, not because I was concerned about it being aggressive. (I had a larger zoom lens on my camera, so the photos were taken from a distance and then cropped.)

I hope this explains things a little better!