Sign of Spring – Eastern Chipmunk Sighting
Eastern chipmunks are up and out – about three weeks earlier than last year!
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%d bloggers like this:
We saw our first two running around in Norwich this morning!
February 24, 2012 at 2:06 pm
I always love your e-mails. This little guy is adorable. Thanks for always giving me something regarding nature to ponder and look at!
February 24, 2012 at 2:19 pm
I saw one on February 16 here in Manchester, VT.
February 24, 2012 at 2:24 pm
I saw one yesterday as well, though not in the way I would have preferred. ‘Lil fella tried crossing route 5 before having a good stiff cup of coffee and got ‘Firestoned’…
It always feels horribly unfair that so many critters suffer the same fate after emerging from hibernation. Spent the winter all cozy and warm and then of one of the first ventures out get flattened by a two ton mass of steel. ‘When I’m elected president’ every highway will be constructed with underpasses, so critters lookin’ for love or a meal can get to the other side of the highway without risk of being exterminated.
As an aside, Mary, have you ever found yourself driving the roads at the crack of dawn and noticed the crows and ravens following them as well, looking for overnight road kill? One of those weird adaptations…
February 24, 2012 at 2:32 pm
I love your underpass idea. I find that aspect of spring (the uptick in roadkill) so depressing.
February 24, 2012 at 2:46 pm
Animal underpasses do exist! Yes, I have seen both crows and ravens patrolling roads for roadkill…I’m always hoping they don’t beat me to it!
February 24, 2012 at 5:56 pm
Nice to see them again three weeks early. They were also late in hibernating as ours were still scurrying around well into December.
Mike
February 24, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Mike Choukas
Nice to see them again three weeks early. They were also late in hibernating as ours were still scurrying around well into December.
Mike
February 24, 2012 at 3:17 pm
My Jack Russell Terrir will be excited. He loves chasing Chippies & red squirrels, but they always beat him to the tree!
February 24, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Mary, I am often curious about the locations of your observations. Are you traveling around the state or are you pretty much in one area? I wonder if dates for observing might be relevant to where we are or relevant to recent local weather patterns.
February 25, 2012 at 1:28 am
Hi Libby,
Unless I mention the location, my posts usually come from central Vermont — most often from Hartland, where I live, or somewhere in the Upper Valley.
February 25, 2012 at 1:42 pm
Thank you! That gives a good anchor for local checking.
February 25, 2012 at 9:36 pm
There have been chipmunk sightings all winter under my bird feeders in Sunapee, NH, along with more than the usual number of red squirrels and gray squirrels. In the evenings the flying squirrels appear. I have also seen opossums and raccoons.
February 27, 2012 at 2:28 pm