Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

I finally managed to get some photos of the chipmunk that has been coming to feed on the birdseed in the jack-o-lantern. BNSF took their locomotive away to do switching, and so its constant cycling didn't keep frightening the little critter away, while my keeping the Sony camera handy near the front door gave me an opportunity to take photos without scaring it away.

( Feeding Time )

There are a few more photos of the chipmunks online if you click through any of these.

With the wet, cold weather we've been having, I set out extra birdseed in the hanging feeder and in the increasingly-distressed jack-o-lantern below it.

( Feeding Frenzy )

As long as we move relatively slowly, we can watch the critters from our front window, or even from inside the Astro parked out front. While they'll scatter when we come near, we apparently disappear when inside the minivan and they come back once the doors close.

The chipmunks continue to feast upon the decaying jack-o-lantern full of birdseed.

( Chipmunks aren't usually social, but in this case, they'll make an exception )

When they get spooked (which is often), they sometimes dash underneath the minivan parked out front. That's okay, except I worry that when they jump up onto the front axle they're going to put themselves in danger when I go out and drive somewhere.

Based on how fat their cheek pouches are, I'm sure they're carrying much of this feed back to their burrows for use in the coming winter.

I also saw one of the local rabbits (it's been a few days since I've seen one), sitting looking forlorn on the other side of the fence and possibly wondering why I haven't left more food outside the fence. The birds (including the quail) and chipmunks can get through the chain length fence, but I've never found a rabbit inside of our fence.

Lisa dumped the carvings and innards from our jack-o-lantern out front in the same area where we feed the birds (and incidentally the chipmunks and probably rabbits), and we discovered that they seemed to like it. So as Halloween is over and our jack-o-lantern is nearly dead, we put him to work with one last job.

( Birdseed Holder )

I unfortunately cannot zoom any closer than I'm already doing with my camera phone, and getting out on the porch (instead of shooting through the living room window) scatters the critters immediately, so these are the best photos I've been able to manage.