Sunday, July 24, 2016

Death of One Chipmunk, Life of Another

Yesterday when I was picking raspberries I got quite a shock as I reached up to pick a berry and saw the dead body of a chipmunk that had become tangled in the bird net over the berries. He had hung to death in the netting because he panicked and tried to push forward through the net instead of using his legs to push back the way he came. I cut him out of the net and checked the body to be sure it was not a nursing mother that might have left a nest of young nearby. It was a male, so I set his body in the woods to feed some other wild creature, perhaps the barred owl I hear at night. The dead chipmunk stayed on my mind and made me a bit sad because it must have been such a frightening and terrible struggle until the end.

Tonight another little chipmunk let me get very close to her to photograph her. She stayed very still and watched me closely. I wonder if she was his mate. I took some photos,  at one point I apparently got too close and she dashed off. I feel grateful to be left with much happier images in my mind tonight. Thanks, little creature for letting me get so close to you.



No comments:

Post a Comment