Photo Friday: Chunky Chipmunks

My dad has a little camp on a lake where I spent a good portion of my summers growing up. I did not fully appreciate how lucky I was to be spending so much time five steps from the water. I could start my day in the canoe and end it with a swim. I would love to have that freedom now. But I digress.

At the lake there was always a pair of chipmunks running around the lawn. My sister and I called them Chip and Dale (very original, I know). After some years passed, it occurred to me that chipmunks don’t live very long. These couldn’t still be the original chipmunks, but whenever a chipmunk met its maker there was always another to take its place. Probably drawn by the well stocked bird feeder.

Chipmunks and squirrels alike love a good bird feeder. Funny, I don’t see a lot of birds using it.

Fast forward thirty years or so. My sister and I were at the lake this past summer with our own kids. Not only were the descendants of Chip and Dale hanging around, they were completely fearless. They let us get within inches of them. (Or should I say, centimeters? We do have the metric system here in Canada.) This surprised me. The Chip and Dale of my childhood weren't nearly so trusting.

Then I saw my dad throwing bird seed on the grass right at his feet. Forget the bird feeder, these lucky chipmunks had even easier pickings. No wonder they liked people so much.