Urban Wilderness: Nature Around Us's video: Chippie the Chipmunk Searches for Food

That area of the front lawn is where I scatter inexpensive bird seed so the squirrels will stay away from my feeder. It works most of the time until the supply of sunflower seeds runs out. While squirrels won't touch the smaller seed like millet, milo, cracked corn and wheat, chipmunks love them! Interestingly enough, so do the larger birds like wild turkeys and crows, who spend hours pecking at the ground for these seeds. I've been watching one chipmunk here for some time now. He (or she) seems to be alone and is often seen just sitting under one of the cars in the parking lot, waiting for the coast to clear so it can see what's left to eat on the lawn. That usually happens just around dusk when all the other critters and birds have retired for the night. Last evening, I watched the chipmunk on the lawn, where the grass is taller than IT is. You can see it poke its head up from time to time, either on the lookout or chewing on a seed. At one point, you can also see how full its cheeks are. For every seed a chipmunk eats, it stores a few in its cheek pouches to take back to its den for storage. As the days start to cool, this will happen more often as the chipmunk starts putting food away for the long winter months of hibernation.