Small rodents are one of my favorite animals. I was lucky to research a very interesting species in Hungary during my university studies and I wrote my MSc thesis about the unique mound building behavior of the Steppe Mouse. When I moved to the USA in 2009, I was fortunate to be able to continue my passion for small mammals and started to work with one of the most characteristic North American rodents, the Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus).
Chipmunks are the smallest members of the squirrel family, however the eastern chipmunk is the largest species of all chipmunks. As its name suggests, the eastern chipmunk can be found throughout the eastern part of North America. This mammal lives in decidous and mixed forests as well as urban parks, where it constructs underground burrows to nest and to store large amounts of food for winter. This is called a cache. Like many small rodents, it has cheek pouches to carry food. Chipmunk’s diet contains seeds, nuts, berries, insects and worms. Athough it is a ground dwelling squirrel, the eastern chipmunk often climbs trees to find food. These rodents spend most of their time gathering food and building their caches. Food caches are the main sources of energy during the winter. Eastern chipmunks hibernate from late fall to early spring. This species is not a true hibernator, it wakes up every few weeks to eat some food. Chipmunks mate in spring and the females usually have only one litter with three to five young and they raise their litters alone. Young chipmunks begin to leave their nest when they are about six weeks old. After they left the burrow, these small rodents start their solitary lives.
Source:
Snyder, D. P. (1982). Tamias striatus. Mammalian Species. 168: 1-8.
I studied and photographed these squirrels in Syracuse, NY in 2009 and 2010. Here is a small set of my favorite chipmunk photographs. All images were taken with my Canon EOS 30D camera and my Canon 70-200mm F/4 lens from my hide. I often used my Canon 1.4x extender for close portraits and I always used my Manfrotto tripod.
