Right outsideMammals
Chipmunks stuffing their cheeks to stock a winter larder
When: September to October
Every chipmunk dash across the yard in September and October is a delivery run: cheek pouches that can hold about 72 sunflower seeds at a time, ferrying a winter larder into tunnels under your feet.
Why this time of year
Chipmunks gather food from spring to fall, but the acorn weeks of September and October are the visible sprint before they disappear into their burrows in late October until March.
How to notice it
- Sit still for ten minutes where you last saw a chipmunk and watch the round trips: out empty, back with bulging cheeks.
- Check the face: full pouches stick out wider than the head.
- Follow one with your eyes to find the burrow entrance, a clean hole about 2 inches across with no dirt pile.
- Count the trips; the same animal may pass dozens of times in an afternoon.
Try this with kids: Time one chipmunk: how many seconds does a full-cheeks delivery run take?
a larder is a stored food supply; chipmunks keep theirs in an underground burrow
Sources
- massaudubon.orgChipmunks store food in their cheek pouches before depositing it in their burrow, and researchers documented they can stuff nearly 72 black-oil sunflower seeds in their pouch; chipmunks are not true hibernators but enter a torpid state and wake every few days to feed on stockpiled food; they enter their burrows in late October and do not emerge until March or April; from spring to fall they spend most waking hours gathering and storing food.
- esf.eduChipmunks can stuff their two internal cheek pouches with as many as 32 husked beechnuts at one time, carried to an underground cache which by the end of autumn may contain 5000-6000 nuts; the species is not a true hibernator, accumulates little body fat before winter, and relies on underground food caches when rousing from short recurring periods of torpor.
In the guide for September, October