This year’s family of chipmunks includes five chipmunks  (munks) –

Chippie, the chipmunk that allows petting while she is busily filling her mouth with peanuts, then scampering to her hole, only to return again just minutes later. Chippie rules over the other munks, often chasing them away from the peanuts or the sunflower seeds lying on the deck so she can get her fill first. We think Chippie is a girl and responsible for the increase in this year’s munk family.

Short-tail is a little nervous. Short-tail does not allow petting but ventures quite close to get those peanuts – if Chippie isn’t already there.

And then we have the three mini-munks. They are very skittish – choosing to make stealth acquisitions of the peanuts or sunflower seeds lying on the deck. The mini’s are quite tiny – at least for now.

One of the adventurous mini-munks decided to explore one of the bird feeders. The problem was, however, that the min-munk did not anticipate the distance to the ground. The munk looked around, surveying his options …

Just as my husband reached to help the munk, it leaped to the ground and was gone in a flash. I bet the munk went back to the other mini-munks and told the story about the great leap he made to get away from the giant.

And the latest update: It seems the chipmunk family is larger than we thought — the latest count is five mini-munks. Hopefully the chicken hawk that landed in our yard  – as we sat on the nearby deck — will not return.

Thanks for reading!