Chipmunk, a little hustler
I think we all have a closeness to the friendly, inquisitive chipmunk; the little hustler, nose to the ground, gleans seeds under our bird feeders. The chipmunk is recognized by adults and youth alike; it seems everyone enjoys watching it skirmish with songbirds or other chipmunks and it’s difficult to ignore its strong commitment to hoarding for its winter sustenance.
Chipmunks are also possibly the most approachable of our wildlife. My retired father had a chipmunk that would take corn kernels from his hand yet would only put 20 kernels in its pouches before leaving to store them in its winter cache.
It’s fair to say that chipmunks have entertained children for ages. They have been scurrying about woods at least since the last ice age 12,000 years ago. Sometimes their population expands and other times decreases, as frequently happens in nature, due to disease or predation. Chipmunks are one of the few animals that have adapted to living successfully near humans. The more we know about chipmunks, the better we understand how they manage to fit into our environment. As fall approaches, they seem to be more active, sensing the necessity to gather food. If they don’t have enough food, it could cut short their already brief two to three years of life. It’s amazing how this little animal with a very short life normally stores up food as if for eternity.
The chipmunk does not exercise true hibernation like the bear or groundhog, but in winter takes frequent naps, feeds on stored food reserves, and defecates. Many times in mid-winter and deep snow I have seen chipmunks emerging from their burrows in near-zero weather.
Chipmunks are exceptionally noisy — more so than any other animal — often incessantly chattering their familiar “chip, chip, chip” for a quarter-hour.
A wide variety of predators prey upon unsuspecting chipmunks, including foxes, weasels, fishers, feral cats, and hawks.
Northern flicker
We expect to see one of our larger woodpeckers, the northern flicker, Colaptes auratus, as a common summer resident, but we have received calls reporting sightings this week. One beautiful bird was here on the suet this week.
The flicker is primarily brown with the black-and-white coloring of other woodpeckers, a stout bill, and the nature of clinging while exploring, feeding, and drumming. A recognizable trait is continuous loud drumming on resonating objects such as metal roofs, hollow trees, or power poles.
From my observations, I would credit flickers with creating many holes and cavities for other cavity-nesting birds’ use, such as chickadees, nuthatches, and other woodpeckers. Last year, I watched a flicker create a cavity in a large pine here at Schooner Cove in Damariscotta, yet it apparently did not use it as a nesting cavity. I did find an American kestrel at Damariscotta’s Punk Point, nesting in a large cavity I had seen a flicker creating in the dead maple.
While we have recorded flickers on many Christmas bird counts, they are not a regular occurrence and always delightful to see at this time of the year. However, in early February this year, I found a flicker at a Nobleboro feeder busily gleaning the fallen seeds on the ground under the feeder.
The northern flicker is one of the few North American woodpeckers that is strongly migratory. Flickers in the northern part of their range move south for the winter, although a few individuals may stay north. Usually my first observation of a flicker is either by its undulating flight and exposed yellow feathers and distinctive white rump patch, or in summer as a ground feeder busily attacking an anthill.
Although the flicker is at home on a tree, it seems to prefer to find food on the ground, such as ants, flies, butterflies, moths, and snails. It will also eat berries and seeds, especially in winter, including poison ivy, sumac, wild cherry, grape, elderberries, sunflower, and thistle seed.
While our flicker in the eastern U.S. has a black shaft, Western birds normally have a red shaft, but both are the same species. The flicker is sometimes called a “yellow hammer,” due to its exposed yellow feathers in flight and it is the state bird of Alabama.
Reader observations, comments, or suggestions are welcome. Write: Nature Notes, 35 Schooner St. #103, Damariscotta, ME 04543. Email cgray025@gmail.com or phone 563-3578.
