|
|
|||||||||
| Summer | |||||||||
|
Home News & Views
A
Chippy Gift
Chipmunk Pictures Dining
Out Chippy Style Chipmunk Store Our chipmunks have been Hope you enjoy your visit. |
Don't You Love Summer?
Summer has a way of rolling in with a whole array of brightly colored blooms. The yard takes on a different mood with each season as new aromas fill the air. Summer plays on our senses like a woman who buys a new dress that makes her feel really special and wants to show it off, adding a touch of perfume to attract a little more attention. This is the time of year when new faces begin to show up in the yard. I know Charles (Chuck) Dubois is somewhere close by. I heard him. I'm sure he's lurking in the undergrowth waiting for the "all clear" so he can munch out in the garden. I'd like to get a really good picture of him. The first pictures we took were through the back door and it's difficult to identify him as a woodchuck. We finally got a shot of him outdoors last year, but the picture is a little fuzzy and with the leaf in his mouth, again it's hard to identify him. I think his coloring throws people off a little as well. Most groundhogs are brown, but Chuck is primarily light gray and quite a handsome specimen. By the way, did you know that woodchucks (groundhogs) are a member of the squirrel family of rodents. Come to think of it, his fur is the color of a gray squirrel. The good news is I haven't seen any coyotes this year and I haven't smelled any skunks. Maybe they found another backyard to hang out in. As for the chipmunks, Ears is very pregnant and should have her litter by the end of July. Sugar Plum and Baby Face have been spared (until next spring). Actually I was a little surprised since they're both a year old and I had expected they would come into heat this season. You just can't tell. It's all up to mother nature. The thing that never changes is the kids banging on the backdoor looking for seeds, berries, and any other tidbits I find hanging around.
But, as nature would have it, all too soon Autumn is upon us, and once again it's time to say good-bye to dear friends who are busily preparing for winters arrival. While we are blessed with a new littler of Chippys, some of our friends are moving into the woods beyond the stonewall. This year both Babyface and Sugar Plum have set off to start a new life in the great woods. They will be very busy establishing a new den and then filling it with a variety of seeds and nuts to last over the coming winter months. We wish them good health and an abundance of babies in the coming seasons and hope that, at least once in awhile, they will stop in for a visit. Autumn is a busy time for baby chipmunks too. There is so much to learn and much preparation needed before winter descends. From inside the house, I can hear the sound of chippys in the woods calling out instructions to their young. Not only do they have to learn what to eat and what foods are good to store, but they also have to learn about the dangers that exist. There are many predators like hawks, owls, eagles, coyotes, snakes, and other animals who roam the woods looking for small critters to eat. Although chipmunks are not considered social animals, they do look out for one another. When a chippy senses danger, the warning cry goes out and they scamper under and into logs, woodpiles, and stone walls until the danger passes. From what I've observed, the young tend to move into recently vacated chippy holes in the vicinity of Mom's den. Even though they are on their own to gather and store food, they are still under the watchful eye of a very protective mother. |
||||||||
|
Chippy Tails - The Scoop from the Stoop© 2006 - All rights reserved. This website, it's pictures and content may not be copied or used in any form . www.chipmunk-pictures.com |
|||||||||
