A generous chipmunk in the Tetons offers me a seed pod in the fall of 2005. Taken on the trail to Death Canyon, one of my favorite hikes in the park. One of my (many) favorite pictures taken on this trip, my first to the Tetons.
Another picture of the same death-defying chipmunk, in this picture it has found some seeds amongst the needles and is eating them.
A picture from Yellowstone in the summer of 2004, I’m playing around with Adobe Lightroom and am using that trip to both test the program and to re-edit some pictures.
This chipmunk was perched in a pine tree at Storm Point in Yellowstone. The tree was hanging out high over the cliffs at the edge of Yellowstone Lake. Being scared of heights myself, I could only watch in jealous admiration at how the chipmunk lept from branch to branch as easily and carelessly as if it had only been a few inches off the ground.
I suspect this is a yellow-pine chipmunk given that it was eating the seeds of the tree, but I don’t know for sure.
I’ve posted a picture of this chipmunk before, taken in Yellowstone last fall, but this time in a vertical format that I like a little better.
In much of eastern America, there is only one species of chipmunk, the aptly named eastern chipmunk. In western America, however, there are a large number of different species and many of them look alike. In some areas, the species don’t overlap so you can make an ID just from its location and habitat. But in areas where they overlap, there are some general coloration traits between the species but definitive identification is difficult. Apparently the penis bone of the males is the only way to be sure, but I don’t get to know my wildlife subjects that well.
I think this may be a yellow-pine chipmunk but I don’t know for sure.