Colorado Chipmunk

Other critters: American Red Squirrel, Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel, Fox Squirrel

Colorado Chipmunk

Chipmunks are cheeky! How many of us have had a chipmunk sneak into our pack, up our pant leg or wiggle into our sleeping bag all in a brazen attempt to steal our food. Once obtained they shove it indelicately into their cheek pouches and race off to their burrow to add the largess to their larder. Chipmunks (Tamias sp.) normally eat such yummy morsels as birds' eggs, small frogs, fungi, worms, insects, as well as nuts. How can my Cliff Bar possibly compete with these obvious delicacies? Dietary peccadilloes aside, tell me who can resist the chipmunk with its campy behavior? Active during the day, they are frequently seen on the trail but they are notoriously hard to capture on film because rarely stand still for any length of time. If you were responsible helping trees and fungi spread their offspring far and wide, you would be busy too. There are five species of chipmunks in Colorado and they are not very easy to identify in the wild, however. You can always spot a chipmunk by the stripes on the side of its face. I am guessing this one is a Tamias quadrivittatus.