Today we have photos from two regulars. As it’s summer, Diana MacPherson’s chipmunks are busy storing up seeds in Ontario:
My yard is full of several different chipmunks and I suspect they are all females feeding baby chipmunks. There have been several chases that have broken out as a result. Here are a couple pictures I took of one of the females hoovering up seeds on my deck. I’m starting to suspect that a chipmunk found its way into my car’s blower box and filled it up with leaves and seeds last week, costing me $100 to have it cleaned out.
JAC: That’s cute, and easily worth $100!
Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) Pauses Between Hoovering up Seeds:
Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) Grooms Wet Arm:
And Stephen Barnard sends a photo of a northern harrier (Circus cyaneus) from Idaho with a note:
The female appears to be flying in and out of the nest area, encouraging the would-be fledglings to fly.
This reminds me-Jerry, whose feeding your squirrels?
Oops, should be “who’s”.
Brilliant pictures!
Do they say ‘hoovering’ up there in Canadia?
Well I suppose in the UK they say ‘Dysoning’.
Yes, we say “hoovering”. I suppose we do anyway since I say it. However, not all my speech seems to be typically Canadian. I have no idea why I say the things I say. I guess that’s because of the no free will thing as well as linguistic influences. 😉
I look forward to the next wild-photo of a Northern Harrier hoovering up a Chipmunk or two.
I love chipmunks!!
Diana, I love your chipmunk photos – they are just the cutest little guys! Can you tell me if they nest underground or in trees? I have some chipmunks that visit my deck and hang around under the bird feeder. Yesterday, I noticed some critter had made a small tunnel along my house foundation. Curious if a chipmunk made it?
By virtue of having provided the cafeteria of choice for chipmunks, I am an authority on chipmunk behavior. Chipmunks tunnel. Chipmunks can be colonial and dig many feet of tunnels which can drain water into your basement, undermine your shrubbery and kill it. They are obsessed with filling their cheeks with as many seeds as they can carry and then burying these in the yard so that clumps of sunflowers emerge or tufts of millet. They will fill convenient spaces with sunflowers and other seeds so that come spring there are thousands of seeds to be discovered as the gardening tools are reactivated. No question that they are cute, but they can be pretty annoying.
Thank you! I suspected it was a chipmunk. I also didn’t know that they bury a lot of those seeds all over the place. Now I won’t be surprised if bunches of sunflowers crop up everywhere!
They have a fairly elaborate underground system with more than one exit. Sometimes they decide to get rid of a tunnel and fill it in. This is how a chipmunk killed my moonflowers last year – moving to a new location and digging up some of the vine.
Heehee, those chippers make me smile.
Regarding the Harrier encouraging flight, I wonder if that’s easier for birds that nest in trees/cliffs. I would imagine having to take off from the ground is not as obvious as starting from height.
I always look forwards to your chipmunks Diana. 🙂