Chipmunk Hide-and-Seek

Peekboo! Look at this chipmunk scurrying about on the logs-got an amazing shot with its eye between the spaces of fallen branches. Earlier in the fall, it was spotted in Newton along the Charles River. Who do you think this is-Chip or Dale? Simon, Theodore, or Alvin?

Whomever it is, here's what's to know about Chipmunks:

––They have a mostly vegetarian diet with some animal proteins including seeds, berries, insects, worms, mushrooms and frogs

––Twice a year they have litters, one in early spring and sometimes another in summer so this is probably an adult

––Like squirrels, they gather nuts to stow away for winter but do so in the ground burrows

––Chipmunks do not hibernate (they instead go into a torpid period where they are somewhat actively eating)

––The moniker "chipmunk" is thought to have come from a Native American word "chetamnon"

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

“Chipmunks.” Mass Audubon, 2023, www.massaudubon.org/nature-wildlife/mammals-in-massachusetts/chipmunks.

“Eastern Chipmunk.” Nature Works, NH PBS, 2023, www.nhptv.org/natureworks/chipmunk.htm.