There is just something, about chipmunks!! Whether, it’s their tiny size, quick darting about, to and fro with frequent sudden stops, seemingly checking things out. Maybe, it’s those bulging tiny ebony eyes! Possibly, the beautiful reddish-brown fur with a white belly, along with their black and white stripping!! WHATEVER, ‘THEY ARE CUTE’!! They ARE ALSO, an animal living in the wild, THAT DOES NOT SEEM WILD!! When you see one, you are entertained, and when they disappear, amid the rocks, behind a branch or down into a hole, you have that hope, they may, re-appear, and continue the show!! They are ‘Love at first sight’!!

Some interesting information about our Eastern Chipmunk: They mate in early spring and have one litter per year of 3 to 5 young. Their habitat is open deciduous woodlands, forest edges, brushy areas and stone walls in cemeteries and around houses. Their range is from Southeastern Canada and NE United States and East from North Dakota and Oklahoma and south to Mississippi, nw South Carolina and Virginia. Our Eastern Chipmunk hibernates from late fall to early spring, waking to eat every two weeks or so. Individuals may occasionally appear on the surface in the snow, especially in mild weather. Essentially a ground species, this pert chipmunk, often feeds on acorns and hickory nuts. It does not hesitate to climb large oak trees when the acorns are ripe. It also eats seeds and other types of vegetation along with some invertebrates such as slugs and snails. It will eat small vertebrates probably found as carrion. This species is single-minded in its food gathering, making trips from trees to storage burrow almost continuously. It was estimated that over three days one chipmunk stored a bushel of chestnuts, hickory nuts and corn kernels. Burrows, consisting of single tunnels or more complex systems, are up to 10 feet long and less than 3 feet deep. They may have cavities for food storage that are large enough to last into the following spring and summer. Long-tailed Weasel is the Eastern Chipmunk’s main predator but hawks, foxes, bobcats and house cats also take their share.

I know we are all use to the saying ‘Busy as a Beaver’ BUT after reading this, you could probably also get away with saying ‘Busy as a Chipmunk’


Please visit my Flickr site for photos – https://www.flickr.com/photos/charliefineran/albums/72157648941951723


Enjoy Your Open Space


Charlie Fineran


Director Open Space
Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission – Chairman
Allamuchy Historical Society – President