A Book of the Seasons, Signs of the Spring: Skunks Active

No mortal is alert enough to be present at the first dawn of the spring. 

Henry Thoreau, March 17, 1857

For the first time I perceive this spring that the year is a circle.

Why should just these sights and sounds accompany our life?

Why should I hear the chattering of black-birds,

why smell the skunk each year?

 April 18, 1852

They appear to come out commonly

in the warmer weather

in the latter part of February.

February 25, 1860

January 24.  The droppings of a skunk left on a rock, perhaps at the beginning of winter, were full of grasshoppers' legs. January 24, 1860

February 23. I have seen signs of the spring. February 23, 1857

February 24. The other day I thought that I smelled a fox very strongly, and went a little further and found that it was a skunk. May not their odors differ in intensity chiefly?  February 24, 1854

February 24.  I have seen the probings of skunks for a week or more. I now see where one has pawed out the worm-dust or other chankings from a hole in base of a walnut and torn open the fungi, etc., there, exploring for grubs or insects. They are very busy these nights. February 24, 1857

February 25. For a day or two past I have seen in various places the small tracks apparently of skunks.  They appear to come out commonly in the warmer weather in the latter part of February.  February 25, 1860

March 6. To Goose Pond. I see the skunk-cabbage started about the spring at head of Hubbard's Close, amid the green grass, and what looks like the first probing of the skunk. March 6, 1854

March 10.  See a skunk in the Corner road, which I follow sixty rods or more. Out now about 4 p. m., — partly because it is a dark, foul day. It is a slender black (and white) animal, with its back remarkably arched, standing high behind and carrying its head low; runs, even when undisturbed, with singular teeter or undulation, like the walking of a Chinese lady. Very slow; I hardly have to run to keep up with it.  It has a long tail, which it regularly erects when I come too near and prepares to discharge its liquid. It is white at the end of the tail, and the hind head and a line on the front of the face, — the rest black, except the flesh-colored nose (and I think feet).  It tries repeatedly to get into the wall, and does not show much cunning. Finally it steers apparently, for an old skunk or wood-chuck hole under a wall four rods off, and gets into it, — or under the wall, at least, — for it is stopped up, — and there I view at leisure close to.  It has a remarkably long, narrow, pointed head and snout, which enable it to make those deep narrow holes in the earth by which it probes for insects. 

Its eyes have an innocent, childlike, bluish-black expression. 

It makes a singular loud patting sound repeatedly, on the frozen ground under the wall, undoubtedly with its fore feet (I saw only the upper part of the animal), which reminds me of what I have heard about your stopping and stamping in order to stop the skunk. Probably it has to do with its getting its food, — patting the earth to get the insects or worms. Though why it does so now I know not. Its track is small, round, showing the nails, a little less than an inch in diameter, alternate five or six inches by two or two and a half, sometimes two feet together. There is something pathetic in such a sight, — next to seeing one of the human aborigines of the country. 

I respect the skunk 

as a human being in a 

very humble sphere. 

I have no doubt they have begun to probe already where the ground permits, — or as far as it does. But what have they eat all winter? March 10, 1854

March 14.  I think I have seen many more tracks of skunks within two or three weeks than all the winter before; as if they were partially dormant here in the winter, and came out very early, i. e., perhaps some of them are more or less dormant. March 14, 1858

March 22. The phenomena of an average March . . . Skunks are active and frolic; woodchucks and ground squirrels come forth. March 22, 1860

March 28. I see where a skunk (apparently) has been probing the sod, though it is thawed but a few inches, and all around this spot frozen hard still. I dig up there a frozen and dead white grub, the large potato grub; this I think he was after. The skunk’s nose has made small round holes such as a stick or cane would make.  March 28, 1855

March 30.  Not till late could the skunk find a place where the ground was thawed on the surface. March 30, 1855

See also Signs of the Spring:

• A Change in the Air
• A Sunny Nook in Spring
• Alder and Willow Catkins Expanding
• Braided Ripples of Melting Snow Shine in the Ruts
• Bright Blue Water
• Buzzing Flies
• Ducks Afar, Sailing on the Meadow
• Frogs, and Turtles Stirring
• Greening Grasses and Sedges
• I begin to think that my wood will last.
• Insects and Worms Come Forth and are Active
• Listening for the Bluebird
• March is famous for its Winds
• Mosses Bright Green
• My Greatcoat on my Arm
• Perla-like Insects Appear
• Red Maple Sap Flows
• Ripples made by Fishes
• Skunks Active
• The Anxious Peep of the Early Robin
• The Crowing of Cocks, the Cawing of crows
• The Days have grown Sensibly Longer
• The Eaves Begin to Run
• The Gobbling of Turkeys
• The Grackle Arrives
• The Hawks of March
• The New Warmth of the Sun
• The Note of the Dark-eyed Junco Going Northward
• The Red-Wing Arrives
• The Skunk Cabbage Blooms
• The Softened Air of these Warm February Days
• The Song Sparrow Sings
• The Spring Note of the Chickadee
• The Spring Note of the Nuthatch
• The Striped Squirrel Comes Out
• The Water Bug (Gyrinus)
• The Woodchuck Ventures Out
• Walking without Gloves
• Woodpeckers Tapping

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A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, Signs of the Spring;

 Skunks Active

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau

 "A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality."

 ~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx ©  2009-2024

See Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, Striped Skunk: The skunk forages at night aggressively searching out food guided by its strong sense of smell.  It  is an omnivore and  opportunist by nature, depending on the season and food availability, spending  much of its time digging for insects and burrowing animals. Striped skunks are considered  both crepuscular and nocturnal. They are not true hibernators but will den up and become inactive during long stretches of cold weather. Breeding occurs from February through late March. The young are born in late April to early June and leave the mother in the fall or the following spring to breed and raise a family of their own.