Where have all the chipmunks gone?
Okay no more making post promises that for whatever reason I can’t keep… uh… I promise. 
I have been able to do very little hiking or four wheeling this Fall but was finally able to get out in the mountains for a while yesterday. I have been wanting to go pretty bad because the foliage is at peak in the color change and if I had waited too much longer it would have been too late. I still didn’t get the photos I want to get and hopefully I can do that in the next day or so.
During my trips in the summer one thing I noticed different and was curious about was the lack of ground squirrel (chipmunk) activity. Usually if you go into any area in the woods and just sit or be quiet for a very short period of time the ground squirrels will make their presence known and are usually scampering about everywhere. This year the woods were strangely quiet and catching a glimpse of the ground squirrel was a rare occurrence. I’m not sure why that is but it was noticeable enough to pique my curiosity.
With the onset of the Fall season the ground squirrels have come out of hiding for nut gathering although their numbers still seem to be a lot lower than previous years.
It could be the fact that coyote are present in larger numbers now than ever before. I have yet to get a clear photo of the coyote as they are quite smart and very elusive. If you are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one in the mountains chances are it will not hang around long enough for a photo.
I don’t usually take photos of the ground squirrel but since their numbers seem to be dwindling I thought I would before they are all gone. The chipmunk in the photo was on the ground when I first saw it and I would say it went up this tree to get a better look at me.
At any rate I do plan to get some landscape photos with the peak colors hopefully very soon.
I’ve been following your blog off & on for awhile. I found it doing a search for WV blogs. I grew in WV & really miss it this time of yr.
I wanted to comment on the ground squirrels – I used to chase the ones that lived in a huge oak in our front yard when I was small.
I wonder if it could just be a slow yr for them? I live in the Ozarks now & have for the past 20 yrs. I’ve noticed the gray squirrels here have come & gone. Some yrs we rarely see them & some yrs (this is one of them) we are so over run that the dogs even ignore them. We have plenty of coyote & red fox here too. In fact, we have more of everything than we’ve ever seen before. It’s just a thought – no evidence either way but hopefully there will be more next year.
Hi Jen – Thanx for commenting.
All of the years I spent away from West Virginia, this is the time I would miss the most as well.
I thought the lack of ground squirrels was strange. I think the reason I noticed it so much is because in a lot of places in the woods it was just eerily quiet this year when normally the ground squirrels would be barking at each other or me or chasing each other through the leaves. Just generally making a lot of noise. It could be just a slow year for them. Also though I’ve been exploring new territory this year and there may just naturally be less of them in these woods. Which would still seem weird to me just because ground squirrels are usually pretty abundant no matter where you go in the mountains. It’s a mystery to me. I’ll be paying more attention next year.
I haven’t seen a chipmunk for years.I hope they’re not going extinct.