Eastern Chipmunk

Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias Striatus) July 5, 2011
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2011, all rights reserved

I can tell that for the first weeks of this blog, at least, it’s going to be very easy to find new species of animals to add to the list of what lives in my yard. Even as I snapped the photos of the Two-striped Grasshopper yesterday, I heard a familiar short, sharp “tseet!” repeated every few seconds from the canopy of a maple tree that stands beside my back deck. I knew I had my second entry if I could just spot the Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) that was calling from some hidden spot within the branches.

Fortunately, high-pitched sounds are easier for the human ear to locate. After a few more calls, I had it pretty well narrowed down, and then a small movement caught my eye. Sure enough, a chipmunk was peeking down from above, watching me intently for any sign of a threat.

Chipmunks, of course, are familiar to almost everyone in New England. If you have trees in New England, you probably have chipmunks nearby even though they actually live in burrows in the ground. Chipmunks store food in their burrows during the months of plenty against the colder months when food will be scarce (or frozen solid).

In my yard, they have a plentiful supply of acorns. The cracked and empty acorn shells attest to their appetite for these nuts. They also have a bad habit of eating my strawberries, just as they begin to ripen. Chipmunks are also known to eat insects, worms, grains (including commercial chicken food when the chickens aren’t looking).  They will chew food into manageable pieces and then stuff their cheek pouches full to carry it back to special food storage chambers within their burrows.

Like many animals, though, chipmunks are opportunistic and will eat a wide variety of foods if the occasion presents itself. Bird eggs, unprotected small baby animals, fungus, and some types of kitchen waste may also become part of the chipmunk’s diet.

In turn, says the State of Connecticut’s Department of Environmental Protection, chipmunks are eaten by hawks, owls, bobcats, weasels, foxes, house cats, raccoons, snakes, rats and coyotes. I would also add fisher cats as a common predator of the chipmunk in areas (like New Hampshire) where they co-exist.

If you need to remove a pest chipmunk, smearing a bit of peanut butter on the trigger of a live trap works quite well as they can’t remove it in one grab and eat it elsewhere, but they have to keep working the trigger to get every last bit. Eventually, if not right away, they’ll trip it and be trapped.

Chipmunk burrows are generally well-hidden and usually have more than one entrance. They may extend for 5-10 feet in length with several chambers. The Eastern chipmunk may have one or two litters of 3-5 babies each year says New Hampshire Public Television’s chipmunk info. page.

Although chipmunks are not seen above ground in winter unless their dens are seriously disturbed, they don’t hibernate in the true sense. They do stay inside their burrows though, living off the food they have stored from the previous summer and sleeping. Occasionally, they will make their burrows in the walls or foundations of homes if they can find a way in, although more frequently if you hear something in the walls or ceiling of your home, it will be a squirrel, which unlike the chipmunk, nests above ground.