Birmingham Bill disagrees with Punxsutawney Phil

As is tradition, on Feb. 2 each year cities across the country bring out their resident groundhogs during their Groundhog Day celebrations to predict how much more of winter we will have to endure.

Groundhog Day was started when German settlers moved to the Pennsylvania area and wanted to continue their tradition of Candlemas Day, which judged the length of winter based on the candles that clergymen would hand out to the public. The prediction eventually grew to include hedgehogs, but since there are no hedgehogs roaming free in Pennsylvania, settlers chose to use groundhogs. The nationally-known weather-predicting groundhog is Pennsylvania native Punxsutawney Phil, and this year he saw his shadow – and an extra six weeks of winter.

The Birmingham Zoo held their own Groundhog Day celebration but with their native groundhog, Birmingham Bill. 

Families were welcomed into the zoo for arts and crafts, snacks and a chance to guess what Birmingham Bill might predict about the weather. When he was brought out to greet the children that filled the zoo's auditorium, he whispered "groundhog-ese" into the zoo's animal programs manager Kelly Garrison's ear. She translated for the crowd and announced that he did not see his shadow today, which means an early spring.

"This morning, it was nice and cloudy, so there was no shadow to be seen," said Garrison. "It was a little different than what Phil said."

After eating his fill of snacks and taking photos with the visiting families, Birmingham Bill was taken back to his home to rest and left the weathermen to continue reporting on the upcoming seasons.