Chipmunk Wars

It began with ducks, six mallards who were likely hatched over the summer. They had learned to mooch at campsites and soon arrived at ours. We fed them stale bread, muffins, and anything else we could find that we thought they might like, but we ran out of duck food.

In Iron River, Michigan on other business, we stopped at the Ace Hardware store. Gary bought cracked corn for the ducks and some birdseed for the many chickadees that sang to us each morning. I found some bagged peanuts in the shell I intended to eat myself. At the St. Vincent de Paul re-sale shop there was a box of free items and there I found some crackers I was sure the ducks would like.

That night there was a strong wind bringing in cold temperatures. The next morning we went to the shore with our duck feast...to find the ducks had flown south for the winter. Meanwhile, I had tasted the peanuts and found them to be stale. The chickadees ignored the feeders Gary set out.

We began to feed all the bounty to the chipmunks. They had already been begging for food. They, too, had been spoiled by previous campers but they had never before had this much food. It started with a pair of chipmunks, but soon grew to four, then five, and now six. Chipmunks are territorial. They come to the feeding ground from all directions. When they run into each other, chipmunk fights erupt, with the dominant chippie chasing another away. When Big Guy Chippie is thus occupied, the others have a chance to swoop in to grab what they can: peanuts, crackers, bird seed, roasted soy beans (a treat Gary brought, and bread crusts. Whatever they find is taken away to store for the winter.

This amuses Gary who creates little problems for them, like putting a peanut in a paper towel tube. They soon learned to go all the way through, pushing the peanut out. They find bird seed in a coffee can or crackers covered with peanut butter on rocks.



Then Red Squirrel began to complain that he wasn't getting his share. I began to throw peanuts down the trail which was fine until a chipmunk wandered into his territory. Another fight ensued. That was bad enough but another squirrel came over from across the road. Those two fought until eventually one noticed where a chipmunk was stashing his booty and started stealing.

These little beggars are becoming more bold. One chippie jumped on my lap when I failed to throw out peanuts in a timely manner. This morning, they were calling at me to wake up and when I opened the door, one was on the steps waiting for me.

Gary was reading a book fireside when he felt a tingling on his foot. He looked down to see a chipmunk tapping his toes. I left my car door open for a few minutes. When I reached in for something a chippie flew out. He had been searching for the source.

We are almost out of chipmunk food. We figure we better leave before they take over and start munching on us.