Chippy The Challenger

This is Chippy the Chipmunk. I met Chippy while I was on a busy path that led to the nature center of a very big nature park. Chippy wasn't the only critter that inhabited this particular path. He seemed to be among at least a hundred other chipmunks that were scurrying all around. Other inhabitants of this path included a cute little red squirrel that liked the shade of a particular park bench, and a few red-winged blackbirds that came and went.

It seems that these little animals were all after one thing. Seeds. Very many of the big human creatures liked to throw seeds on the ground for Chippy and all of his little friends. Obviously this made Chippy and all the rest of the critters very happy, and very full. Easy food is always welcome.

Now even though there is always plenty of food for the little critters that live around this park trail, they all know that the one thing they have to do to make sure they keep getting more is to beg in the very cutest way possible. So that's exactly what Chippy knows how to do best, and he's not one bit afraid to do it.

It works almost every time! The begging act brings Chippy and all his little friends a fresh new supply of seeds. Now Chippy can happily gather as many seeds in his cheeks as he can carry. And believe me, that is a lot of seeds. His little cheeks grow and grow with each seed he can store in there, until they are full enough to look as if they might burst. But of course they never do.

When he decides that he has enough seeds, Chippy takes them back to his hidden lair under the leaves and small plants at the side of the trail. But Chippy is far from finished. He knows that even though there are plenty of seeds right now, there will be nothing in the cold winter months, or maybe even next week. So Chippy comes right back out on the human's trail to beg for more.

As Chippy makes his way back out to the trail, he overhears one human that doesn't seem to like to share his seeds keep claiming that he is really a rat. Chippy knows that's not possible. He wasn't born yesterday after all. He was born last year. And being born so long ago, Chippy knows quite a lot of things; like the fact that humans always stay humans, and never turn into rats.

Still, even if this particular human does seem to be crazy, Chippy does his best to get him to share his seeds. All this crazy human does is point one of those click boxes at him. So after awhile Chippy begins to decide that the human is just too insane to share any seeds, so he goes off to get some across the trail. There's only one problem with that though.

There are other forest critters that like seeds too. One lives on the other side of the trail, and this one is much bigger than Chippy. The human creatures look at this big beast, saying how very cute and little it looks to them. To those humans everything looks little. They are all giants after all.

So many animals want these seeds. The red-winged blackbirds land over here looking for seeds too. Chippy doesn't quite know if he is brave enough to rescue the seeds so he can put them to their rightful use. So will he be too afraid to do his duty, and turn out to be Chippy the Coward? Or will he decide to be a very brave little chipmunk, and become Chippy the Challenger?

The answer to these questions, and more, will be revealed as this story continues. Same Rat time. Same Rat blog.


Nature Center Magazine - Today Steve of Out On The Prairie, who many of you are happily getting to know, shares some tips and advice on some things you need to know and do to help you enjoy nature in the best way you can. Read his article. It is very good.