Eastern Chipmunk

  • Nature News | Marlene A. Condon
  • December 5, 2023
An Eastern Chipmunk gathers birdseed in the author’s driveway, stuffing them into its cheek pouches to bring back to its burrow.

I spent my first year of college at a campus in Massachusetts that was perfect for me. The college was situated on a hillside and a great deal of forest had been preserved beyond its buildings. A trail ran through the woods for quite a way, and I walked there often.

Whenever I recall those forays into the forest, I think of all the chipmunks that seemed to keep me company. The habitat was ideal for these adorable little creatures. As a result, they were numerous and seemed to be everywhere. I will always associate chipmunks with my first year of higher education.

I subsequently transferred to Virginia Tech to finish my degree requirements and I never left Virginia. When my “dream home” near the Blue Ridge Mountains was built, I was absolutely delighted to see chipmunks on my property. Now I could cohabit with these furry critters instead of only visiting them as I had as a student in Massachusetts.

I quickly discovered that chipmunks love sunflower seeds, just as many birds do. I therefore saw them often around my bird feeders, even during the winter when chipmunks are less active because they semi-hibernate. In other words, they rouse themselves to eat during the winter whereas true hibernators go into a very deep sleep or torpor and do not eat until spring.

Thus, if you live in an area that has chipmunks, you may well view them at this time of the year, especially if you feed birds. The Eastern Chipmunk is a member of the squirrel family and is known as a ground squirrel because it spends most of its time on the ground. However, it’s capable of climbing trees if it wants to get food or needs to escape a predator.

The characteristic trait that most folks probably think of when they hear the word “chipmunk” is probably the large internal cheek pouches that line a chipmunk’s face. These pouches can each be stuffed with a heaping tablespoon of seeds. One

reference says a chipmunk was found to be carrying more than 3700 blueberry seeds in its cheeks!

A chipmunk places food into its pouches with its forefeet, and uses those same feet to push on the external surface of its cheeks to get the food out when it wants to do so. The inside of its cheeks is not wet like your mouth, but dry like your skin so the food doesn’t get wet.

Chipmunks forage for food during the day, gathering it to store in their underground tunnels. Although chipmunks are primarily vegetarians, they do also eat meat. Earthworms, snails, insects, insect larvae, frogs, salamanders, small snakes, birds, bird eggs, and mice have been reported as chipmunk food. There is even a report from 1939 of a chipmunk robbing a junco nest and of capturing a young robin here in Virginia.

Chipmunks are thought to live from two to four years in the wild, although in captivity, some have lived as long as eight years.

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can read her blog at https://InDefenseofNature.blogspot.com.