Chipmunk Jealousy

I can only think of one animal I have ever said I wished I could be. I didn't say that because they are so cute, even though they are.

 I didn't say it because they are "cover-girl" material.

Chipmunk on the cover of my well-worn copy of "Mammals of Pennsylvania"

I did say it because of something the book tells me about chipmunks' lifestyles.  That is, once the snow starts - by the end of October or early November here in northeastern Pennsylvania-- the chipmunk is curled up in a cozy underground nest, mostly sleeping the winter away.  He wakes up when he gets hungry and has a bite to eat from his stash of seeds and nuts then goes back to sleep again.  No, I don't want to sleep away the whole winter, but usually sometime around mid-February, I start to get a little jealous of the chipmunks!

This time of year, the chipmunks also seem to lead a pretty good life, in my yard at least.  There is plenty to eat:

"Someone left this whole pile of sunflowers seeds right here for me... how nice!"

"Yum, yum!"

They have some rocks just right to hide in.

A handy source of drinking water, too.

And friends to play with.

Chipmunks get their name from the "chipping" sounds they make, which you can listen to here.  While they are not very musical, they do make several different sounds and they can make quite a loud volume for such a small creature.  (They typically only weigh about 3 ounces!)

While I think our chipmunks are very cute and I enjoy having them around, there are times when I'm not so happy with them.  They can wreck havoc in my flowerbeds by digging holes and eating bulbs.  They love to eat crocus bulbs.  Although, sometimes they dig up the bulbs, then store them in their tunnels and don't get around to eating them.  So, I have some crocus (like these autumn-flowering ones) that bloom where the chipmunks "planted" them in my yard.

They also sometimes make a mess when they "plant" seeds and then dig them up later, like these sunflower seeds they hid by my front door (then they dug them back up after the seeds had sprouted).

 Chipmunks usually like to stay fairly close to the ground.

They can climb, but it's fairly unusual to see them up high. Unless they have a reason to, like the one in the next photo, who was so hungry for sunflower seeds that it climbed up into the birdfeeder.

The white-breast nuthatch has to wait his turn!

Chipmunks can load up their cheek pouches with seeds, before scurrying back to their nest to store them for the winter.

This one finds a good source and starts filling up....

"I think I can fit in a few more!"

Unlike other animals that truly hibernate, chipmunks don't add a layer of extra fat in the fall, but wake up off and on to eat during the long winter.  So they have to be sure to stockpile plenty of food.  Some of them may actually sleep right on top of their winter pantry.  See why, in February, I might think I'd like to be a chipmunk?

Update:  Here's a link to a great chipmunk video on the Discovery Channel. (Thanks Laura!)