Townsend's chipmunk surprise!

Profile view of a Townsend Chipmunk - not a good day.
It was a dreary day on a long car ride, and the need for a break became a commonplace thought in our minds.  Our jaunt in Washington State was punctuated with beautiful park areas; a sign up ahead promised a lovely forested walk.  So we pulled over with hiking gear in hand and a camera at the ready just in case some creature of the wilderness should venture into view.

Our hopes proved true and the path we sauntered along was pleasant and relative slope free.  It passed through a pine woodland which had a rich earthy scent with it; the rain had stopped an hour or two ago.  We passed some fallen logs; the trail was free of debris, and it was quiet as we were the only trespassers present.  The quality of the trail was, however, well made; it would not be long before someone else shared our experience.

We came to a good spot to stop and have a break.  Backpacks were opened and canteens emptied of whatever nutrients they held.  After a few moments of respite we turned back towards the car, along the same path we had just hiked.  As we turned a corned we came across the same fallen logs we saw earlier, but in front of us was the oddest thing.  A chipmunk was lying on its side, apparently very dead.  It wasn't there before; something had happened to it between the last time we passed the point and just then.  No one else, as far as we knew, was around.  It was quite peculiar.  That's when innovation struck.

I picked up the poor beast, its quiet demise a sad thought, and set it up very carefully on that same fallen log we were by.  Yes, it seemed pretty convincing, certainly from a distance.  After finishing and photographing the subject we continued our trek to the car.  Sometime after we met some people heading out on the same journey we just finished.  Pleasantries exchanged, we passed each other and went about our lives.  Except, I knew what was waiting.

I can just imagine the conversation.  "Mary, look over there!" a quite voice utters.  "Can you please get my camera out of the bag."  The distance is still too great to see much detail, but the couple spies a chipmunk, perched on a log up ahead.  A few photos later and the couple advances.

"Bill," Mary says quietly, "He's not moving."  It's true, they decide, and the couple shoot and gradually creep up on their quarry.  After a few moments of clandestine maneuvers and a few more shots, they finally reach the still motionless chipmunk.

I can just imagine their faces, and the moment they discover what it was they found.  Part of me is sad for the chipmunk, as the death of any creature is bothersome.  But I have to admit that I got a certain level of enjoyment about setting up that scene.  Somebody will have a funny story to tell.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Columbia spotted frog

Image
Columbia spotted frog I grew up in Ontario as a kid and lived near natural areas that teemed with life of all kinds.  There were insects and mammals, amphibians and turtles, and lots of different kinds of fish.  We spent hours wandering around the near by wilds, exploring every nook and cranny and discovering the wide assortment of creatures that existed there.  It was there that the passion for wildlife took hold of me, where I learned to catch and identify creatures, and there that I formed an interesting bond with my brother. The two of us are almost seven years apart, an eternity when you are young, and we never really spent much time together doing stuff.  We did, however, both develop an interest in the outdoors, him more towards fishing and me more towards photography.  As adults now we find that this is a common theme that runs through our lives, both drawn towards living things existing naturally around us.  We have both shared our passion wit...
Read more

Common garter snake - the Puget Sound garter snake subspecies.

Image
Puget Sound garter snake Everyone knows what a garter snake looks like, right?  It turns out that there are many different species of garter snake, and then there are subspecies on top of that.  For example, here in British Columbia, there are three distinct species of garter snakes.  There is the western terrestrial garter snake, the northwestern garter snake, and the common garter snake.  I have caught each of them but sometimes have felt like there were more than just three species.  That is because, within a species, there may be two or more subspecies. A subspecies is a group of individuals belonging to a population, which is geographically isolated from other populations of the same species.  There typically are many differences between the different groups though.  Different subspecies may be able to interbreed if given the opportunity and produce viable offspring that are not sterile.  Genetically they are very close, but it is their...
Read more

The Gopher Tortoise - Photographed in Florida

Image
I photographed this wild gopher tortoise while visiting in Florida last year. Habitat is important for animals.  Most creatures need a place to live, food to eat, and can live only within certain temperature and precipitation tolerances.  This all sounds very rhetorical, but we seem to forget this when it comes to land usage.  It becomes about the god which seems to drive man more than any other; money.  The land becomes part of the foundation for our creations of building, transportation, or recreation.  These destroy the habitat which the native occupants require, and they do the only thing they can.  They die. It is amazing how much one organism affects another.  A great example of this is the gopher tortoise.  You may think that this slow-moving domed reptile would not have much in the way of needs, or that its existence, one way or another, wouldn't make a difference to neighbouring creatures.  But, you would be wrong.  It tur...
Read more