When I first got into photography, I enjoyed taking photos of the neighbourhood birds and deer, slipping out of the house early to find those magical mornings where it felt like I was the only one awake and observant. The world seemed like a quiet, peaceful place then.
Now, living in BC, there’s much more abundance to notice. Instead of the familiar starlings, white-tailed deer, and magpies of Alberta that were often featured in my photography, now chipmunks, squirrels, hummingbirds, and many other small species are a part of my subjects. This post features chipmunks and their bright-eyed curiosity; I hope to do more posts on birds and critters in the months to come.
I got the chance to take some photos of chipmunks while looking after a neighbour’s place. They were used to being fed by humans, so some came quite close and were never too far away. I noticed that these ‘munks had abscesses from bot flies, which are the wounds and bald patches on some of them in the photos. I’m not sure if the abscesses are fatal, but they certainly didn’t take away from these creatures’ curiosity.
The inquisitiveness of chipmunks always makes for some great photos – they’re not shy of coming a bit closer, and with my zoom lens their beady eyes and bushy tails fill the frame.
Love to see your photos and read about your observations
Thanks, Grandpa Bill!
When I was visiting my Uncle’s placer gold operation in the Yukon, there was a squirrel who constantly ran over the tin roof of the cabin, which woke us up too early every morning. My Uncle gave me the duty to exterminate the annoying creature. I was not happy to carry out such a deed, as I had never killed any four legged creature before. With a 22 gauge rife in hand, I hunted down the little furry animal. The squirrel was chirping at me on a branch in a tree and I was able to get close enough I had a clear aim. The first shot brought it to the ground, where it began thrashing from the bullet wound. I was horrified to see it still alive and flipping about. My heart was pounding as I shot another bullet at point blank range, to end the poor creature’s suffering! It took 3 or 4 more bullets to finally bring the squirrel to rest! I felt sick and my legs were wobbly for a few hours after the deed was done. The terrifying incident made me swear never to kill another creature (which even includes most insects-discretionary action when it involves mosquitoes). I did violate my treaty years later when I caught a fish with the same terrifying outcome, as I did not know how to subdue a flipping fish. To end the flailing, I placed the heavy cement anchor on it. That did end the thrashing, but also flattened the creature. The girlfriend I was trying to impress, did not seem too alarmed with the proceedings, and we did enjoy the meal the catch provided, except for the amount of bones we had to pick out of the meat. As with the squirrel, my hunting instincts were again banished and, to this day, I have no desire to fish or hunt.
Thank you for sharing these experiences. I would hate to ever kill a squirrel or fish, even for food purposes. Somehow with bugs it’s different, though!