Least Chipmunk eating in a ravine – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
The last time I was in the field I spotted a Least Chipmunk eating in a small ravine next to a road high in the Wasatch Mountains. For about 5 minutes all of my focus was on the tiny chipmunk.
The small ravine is a great spot for wildflowers including Parsnipflower Buckwheat which is in bloom right now. I kept hoping that the Least Chipmunk would move to where the buckwheat was blooming so I could get photos of it in the wildflowers. That didn’t happen.
This spring and summer I have not seen as many Least Chipmunks as I have in previous years. I don’t know why. Maybe the drought and reduced berry production of the shrubs and trees last year has had a negative effect on these chipmunks.
It won’t be long before the serviceberries ripen and perhaps I will see more chipmunks then. They seem to enjoy noshing on the wild serviceberries as much as they do the seeds of thistles.
I was delighted to have this chipmunk in my view for as long as I did because of their scarcity this year.
By the time I photographed this Least Chipmunk the sun was already getting high and the temps were rising. Not long after I took this photo I turned my Jeep around to head down into the Salt Lake Valley and home.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Least Chipmunk photos plus facts and information about this species.
Love the Chipmunk shot. The detail and textures you captured are terrific. Thanks Mia.
FYI – Last week I flew over the [once] Great Salt Lake and was shocked at how much of it has evaporated over the past few years. Given this catastrophic drought we’re in, I don’t see how the GSL can ever recover. Even a few years of Biblical rain/snowfall will probably not be enough. What we need is another ice age…but I doubt any of us will be around in 50/60 thousand years to see it. What a nightmare!
Pepe,
The once Great, not so much now, Salt Lake is so low that it sickens me to see it from the ground. I can only imagine how sad it looks from the sky. I haven’t flown over it since 2019 and it was low even then and it dips lower everyday now. It is a tragedy that was predicted which could have been prevented if our dipstick lawmakers had listened and not denied that climate change is real. I despise every one of them.
My sister’s “dog” was a wild chipmunk she called Sammy…he sat on her lap gor sunflower seeds and grntle stroking…welost her recently to covid pneumonia…vaccinated, boosted, visited by someone with covif…
What an absolute charmer.
They are so adorable! I have a few photos of them eating green service berries. They were not close so not the best photos.