Chipmunks and Chickadees

[KingM34]

Chickadees are dependable guests at my birdfeeder. Spring, summer, and winter, they come and go, busy, busy, busy, and always hungry. Half a dozen chickadees can empty a birdfeeder in a couple of days,although they manage to spill as much as they eat, leaving the deck covered with plenty of good sunflower seeds among the husks.

One day last summer a red squirrel arrived at the inn and took over the cleanup job. The children named him Fluffy Nut. He would sit beneath the bird feeder, collecting the bounty that fell from the sky. As he stuffed them into his mouth you could tell that he could hardly believe his good fortune. He didn’t know where the seeds came from, and didn’t care, so long as they kept falling. In a few short weeks the squirrel had grown fat.

Read the rest here: http://theopinionator.com/travel/chipmunks1.html

[Caoimhe]

1. What a sweet story

I absolutely adore animal watching. Sounds like you do too!

[KingM34]

2. re: animal watching

Thank you, yes I do enjoy animal watching. It's one of the best things about living in a rural area. I even like sitting with my window open in the evening and smelling a skunk walk by, assuming he doesn't linger of course.

[jean]

3. Hahaha! "All praise to the gods!" This is hilarious and so familiar.

[ewagner]

4. My favorite line about Chickadees

is from The Land Remembers and it went something like: Chickadees are.." nature's smallest bundle of large enthusiasm."

My menagerie includes a chipmonk (named Stripes) a pair of squirrels (Destructo and Stubby) and a cottontail who has been coming to the feeder since he was a hand-sized ball of fur (long-ears). They seem to like puffed wheat better than sunflower seeds. :) :)

[sarge43]

5. 'Dees are

Nature's joyous thoughts made visible.

By the way, chipmunks are mice with racing stripes. One of my favorite rural pleasures is watching the little freaks play bowling for bluejays. We put out seed for the groundfeeders near my herb garden. They'll hide in there waiting for the jays to swarm in and start woofing down. Then, they come barreling out and run right through the crowd. Jays pinwheeling and screaming; chips retreat back their hidiehole and wait -- giggling. :woohoo:

[ewagner]

6. That must be a site to behold!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

When my son was young one of "our" chippies was tame enough to take peanuts from our hand...he did it for a couple of years and then, one spring, he just never came back...I'd like to think that he died in his sleep during the winter....