Four Babies and a Woodpecker

Standing in the kitchen the morning after the drive back from Chicago, my back and legs ached and my head felt as if all thought was being filtered through a thick piece of cloth. I looked out of the kitchen window at the grassy bank that leads to the road. It was incredible how much had happened out there in a week. We had aimed the car at the sunset nine days before and when we left the three mature trees out the back and the bushes at the front were starting to show signs of leaves. Now, the neighbours downhill and to the front had disappeared behind a wall of green. And looking out to the back the mid Sunday morning sunlight was all but occluded by the green canopy from the trees. The shadows of the leaves allowed only tiny dots of bright light through, I was watching, mesmerized, at how the patterns shifted and changed. Suddenly I noticed two chipmunks quite near to the house and huddled close together. This is unusual as chipmunks tend to be territorial. As I continued to watch a third and then a fourth chipmunk appeared and I realized these were smaller than either Speedy or Sparky. These were four chipmunk babies.

I guess this was a sign of true summer. Breeding season is February to April and gestation is a month while weaning is four to six weeks. Add all that time together and we were definitely at start of summer. Our second spring in Connecticut had had its nature highlights. We spotted two or three blue jays and a very red cardinal has taken up residence in the trees outside the front of the house. We had seen other birds too; a couple of very colourful finches visited for a few days, some swallows arrived and back in early spring I caught sight of a woodpecker that was high up in a tree overlooking the valley. Finally, of course, there are always the common populations of Robins, Sparrows and overhead, Turkey vultures and falcons.

We will see what Mother Nature has for us during the summer – maybe another mountain lion like last year?



<Enter stunningly witty and clever tagline here> Bazza
PS I discovered the really cool pictures of some chipmunks at the site below.

http://www.pbase.com/cecilg/squirrels_and_chipmunks