Carnivorous Chipmunks
It’s been raining steadily all day. I’ve had a matching headache.
When I outside to make sure water wasn’t anywhere it wasn’t supposed to be, I observed a couple of new baby fishes in the pond, and buds opening on the hydrangeas. The daffodils are knocked down – whether because of the rain or because I probably didn’t plant the bulbs deep enough, I don’t know.
By the edge of the deck, I saw a chipmunk. It was eating a worm.
There is no doubt about this. It stuffed most of the worm into its cheek-pouch, but and I saw the chipmunk bite down and drop the end of the worm off into the mud – where it wriggled. The chipmunk then picked up the wriggly worm and finished off the meal.
I mean, come on. Worm-eating chipmunks? Carnivorous chipmunks?
So, I googled it. Yup, they sometimes eat worms – and slugs, and snails, too – although they prefer seeds and berries and the other sorts of things you’d think of them eating.
All news to me. A whole yard full of acorns, and the chipmunk is eating worms.
Maybe I need to rethink my totem animal… or could it be a sign?
We have several chipmunks that live behind our house. I was very surprised this evening to see a chipmunk sitting on the edge of our patio, eating what appeared to be a mouse. It was definitely eating some sort of mouse-like small mammal. I snapped a few digital photos.