Backyard Adventures: The Chipmunk
I have been amazed at the amount of different creatures that have shown up in our backyard this year. While it may be amazing, it is not at all surprising. My soulmate and I have been making a greater effort to connect with the universe and nature. Our new backyard neighbors seem most likely brought in by this connection. Today I want to take a look at one of those neighbors, the Chipmunk.
Attached to the back of my house is a beautiful sunroom. We love to sit out there in the mornings and evenings watching and listening to the beauty of nature that surrounds us. Our domesticated lions, or should I just call them cats,lol, enjoy their time out there as well. I believe they may actually think they are Lions and dream that they are in a Saharan desert awaiting an opportunity to pounce on their prey.
A couple of years ago we had some chipmunks in our yard but they would eventually disappear, that is until this year. I am glad that they have decided to return to our backyard. We now have a total of three chipmunks that visit our yard. One of these chipmunks loves to play and mess around with one of my cats. This little trickster will come to the sliding glass door of my sunroom and do various things in front of my cat such as darting back and forth, sitting still and stare at the cat, and clean and scratch itself. My cat will sit there very still, furr raising up on his back, body twitching and ready to pounce on the little trickster at the first opportunity available. However, the sliding glass door prevents the mighty feline from attacking its prey and provides the small trickster a window of opportunity to torture and torment the cat. For those who belong to Generation X like myself, it reminds me of my childhood waking up and watching Tom and Jerry on the television.
The name Chipmunk originated from a word of the Algonquin indigenous people called Ojibwa meaning red squirrel. It was first spelled Chitnmunk. In the early 1800's they were often called Chip Squirrels. Their average life span is about 3 years. Some chipmunks, particularly those in the Eastern US, hibernate In the winter and need about 15 hours of sleep a day.
Chipmunks are part of the squirrel family, but unlike their squirrel cousins, they do not make nests in trees. Instead, they make burrows down into the ground with different tunnels, some as long as thirty feet. They will use some of this burrow to store food for the colder months. Their diet consists mainly of nuts, berries, and seeds; however some have been known to eat small frogs, small baby birds and bird eggs.
Chipmunks can be known as little trickster and chatterboxes but they are also very safe, stealthy, and can carry important messages. In Ancient Norse legend the Chipmunk would run up and down the world tree carrying important messages from the God's, mainly Odin, to the people.
The Indigenous people not only gave the Chipmunk its name, but they also provide the legend of how they got the stripes on their back. As the legend says, there was a great and mighty bear who lived in the forest. This bear would go through the forest everyday bragging and boasting about how mighty and strong he was. The bear would challenge all the creatures of the forest letting them know there was nothing he couldn't do. One day the Chipmunk got tired of listening to the bear and issued him a challenge. The chatty trickster asked the bear if he could stop the sun from rising. The bear laughed and said, “ There is nothing I can't do, so of course I will stop the sun from coming up in the morning.” The next day the bear tried and tried but could not stop the inevitable, the sun rose. The bear was defeated. Standing close to the defeat, the Chipmunk started laughing hysterically. This enraged the bear who slammed his paw down on the back of the Chipmunk. Not dead yet, the crafty Chipmunk pleaded with the bear, “Please, before You kill me let me pray to the creator”. The bear honored the chipmunks' wish and told him that he could pray. The Chipmunk then asked the bear to release the pressure his paw was putting on him just a little bit so that he could pray. The beat granted the wish and raised his paw just a bit. It was just enough space to allow the sneaky trickster to escape the bear's grip. The fast Chipmunk raced away from the bear's grip quickly, but in the process the bear was able to get its claw on the chipmunks back, leaving 3 large marks down his back. To this day, all chipmunks carry the mark of the bear's claw on its back.
What could it mean if you see a Chipmunk? One possibility is that even though the Chipmunk is a very quick and fast creature, it will carefully watch its surroundings and know what's going on around it. Basically it doesn't rush blindly into things, and maybe you need to be careful of that if the Chipmunk has appeared to you.
Chipmunks have to plan and prepare for the cold months. They will spend a great amount of time storing food in their burrows so that they can have the cold months food supply prepped and planned for. If a Chipmunk appears to you, maybe there is something coming up on your journey that you need to plan for.
The chipmunks can be known as chatterboxes, but are also important messengers. If you see a Chipmunk, stop and think, how is my speech? Am I a trickster chatterbox? Or am I providing important messages that the universe wants me to relay to help others on their journey.
The Chipmunk has become my neighbor again. I have learned many things about it and I am now passing them on to you so you can be more knowledgeable about them. All the creatures of the earth are our friends. We are all one and we are all connected. Let's learn about each other so that we can understand and help each other.
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more backyard stories to learn about our nature neighbors.
See you soon!
By Michael Walters
The Ancestor's Fire
Writing the voices of the unheard
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