Monday, September 20, 2010

Three Chickadees, One Fat Chimpmunk and a sneaky mouse. Busted in Brandon Township!



The sparkling glass lawn ornanament  hanging from a wooden pole next to my front yard wildflower meadow now doubles as a bird feeder. Within hours of tossing in a big double hand full of sunflower seeds a trio of chickadees discovered their slice of easy picking heaven.  That was five days ago.  I would fill the feeder each day around 6:30 a.m. And each day by sunset chickadees would have the feeder half empty. But yesterday morning a new twist: the feeder was empty less than an hour after filling. No spillage on the ground. And no morbidly obese bloated chickadees flopping on the ground moaning, "What have we done?" As I pondered the problem of  vanishing seed I spotted movement in the tall  grasses.  I grabbed my camera, refilled the feeder and waited from a lawn chair barely twenty feet away. Chickadees returned in just seconds and then in a flash of fur and motion and incredible leaping abiltity a ground-loving chipmunk curled into the hanging glass feeder and stuffed his cheek pouch to the max.  Another leap sent him flying to the ground and racing off to his underground cache. And while he unloaded his booty of snatched seeds the chickadees returned to grab seeds one by one. Chipmunk returned and loaded up again. And then the chickadees. 42 minutes later the feeder was empty. Lesson #1  learned: Nature's creature adapt to opportunity. Lesson # 2: That twenty pound sack of seed won't last long. And tonight when I went to the shed to put away tools I had Lesson #3 looking at me. White-footed mice have discovered my seed bin. That too is nature's way.

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! I didn't know chipmunks could jump.

September 21, 2010 at 7:15 AM 
Anonymous Judy said...

Good Morning!! I guess the old saying "strike while the iron is hot!!" fits this one... clever clever are our furry friends..

September 21, 2010 at 8:31 AM 
Anonymous Carol Kasprzak said...

Have always LOVED your critter photos and these are no exception...great! Didn't know those chipmunks could fit so much in their cheeks. :-)

September 21, 2010 at 1:00 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Excellant photos Jonathan! Who knew that chipmunks could be so clever!

September 21, 2010 at 3:46 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jonathon,
Love what you see and share... things that are around the rest of us all the time and we just need help noticing.
Sharon

September 21, 2010 at 7:51 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm sure that chipmunk would have been smiling if it's cheeks weren't so full!
M.N.

September 21, 2010 at 10:51 PM 
Blogger Jonathan Schechter said...

The chipmunk is back to work on this morning after the rains and storms.
I'm going to have to take up a collection to keep him happy in seed!
Jonathan

September 22, 2010 at 8:23 AM 

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