Rodentia

I Claim This Rock!

March 16, 2023 — 10 Comments

F/5.6, 1/250, ISO 800.

Muskrat

Why did the cookie go to the hospital?

He felt crummy!

Interesting Fact: Muskrats are most active at night or near dawn and dusk. They feed on cattails and other aquatic vegetation. They do not store food for the winter, but sometimes eat the insides of their push-ups. While they may appear to steal food beavers have stored, more seemingly cooperative partnerships with beavers exist, as featured in the BBC David Attenborough wildlife documentary The Life of Mammals.[22][23] Plant materials compose about 95% of their diets, but they also eat small animals, such as freshwater mussels, frogs, crayfish, fish, and small turtles.[5][6] Muskrats follow trails they make in swamps and ponds. When the water freezes, they continue to follow their trails under the ice. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskrat#Behavior )

What Drives You Nuts?!

December 21, 2022 — 14 Comments

F/6.3, 1/100, ISO 320.

American Red Squirrel

Why do squirrels swim on there back?

To keep their nuts dry!

Interesting Fact: Red squirrels can be easily distinguished from other North American tree squirrels by their smaller size, 28–35 cm (11–14 in) total length (including tail), territorial behavior, and reddish fur with a white venter (underbelly).[6] Red squirrels are somewhat larger than chipmunks. The Douglas squirrel is morphologically similar to the American red squirrels, but has a rust-colored venter and is restricted to the southwestern coast of British Columbia and in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. These species’ ranges do not overlap.  ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_red_squirrel )

Im On Top Of The World!

May 22, 2021 — 6 Comments

F/6.3, 1/100, ISO 250.

Chipmunk

Why was the chipmunk late for work?

Traffic was NUTS.

Interesting Fact: Their shrill, repeated, birdlike chirp is usually made upon sensing a threat but is also thought to be used as a mating call by females. Chipmunks are solitary creatures and normally ignore one another except during the spring, when mating takes place. After a 30-day gestation, a litter of two to eight is born. The young stay with their parents for two months before they begin to gather their own provisions for the winter ahead. ( https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/chipmunks/ )

I Am Too Busy Working On My Own Grass To Notice If Yours Is Greener

July 22, 2020 — 7 Comments

F/6.3, 1/250, ISO 640.

Muskrat

Why is sex like math?

You add a bed, subtract the clothes, divide the legs, and pray there’s no multiplying!

Interesting Fact: Muskrats provide an important food resource for many other animals, including mink, foxes, coyotes, wolves, lynx, bobcats, bears, eagles, snakes, alligators, and large owls and hawks. Otters, snapping turtles, and large fish such as pike prey on baby muskrats. Caribou and elk sometimes feed on the vegetation which makes up muskrat push-ups during the winter when other food is scarce for them.[24] In their introduced range in the former Soviet Union, the muskrat’s greatest predator is the golden jackal. They can be completely eradicated in shallow water bodies, and during the winter of 1948–49 in the Amu Darya (river in central Asia), muskrats constituted 12.3% of jackal faeces contents, and 71% of muskrat houses were destroyed by jackals, 16% of which froze and became unsuitable for muskrat occupation. Jackals also harm the muskrat industry by eating muskrats caught in traps or taking skins left out to dry. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskrat#Behavior )

What Am I Going To Do Today?

June 29, 2020 — 19 Comments

F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 320.

Eastern Chipmunk

Why did the tiny ghost join the football team?

He heard they needed a little team spirit.

Interesting Fact: It has several bird-like or chattering calls; one is a trill at the rate of 130 vibrations per minute and another is a lower-pitched, clicking sound. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_chipmunk )

Ask Us About Our Hole?

May 8, 2020 — 2 Comments

F/6.3, 1/125, ISO 320.

Eastern chipmunks

What do you call a rooster who wakes you up at the same time every morning?

An alarm cluck!

Interesting Fact: The eastern chipmunk defends its burrow and lives a solitary life, except during mating season. Females usually produce one or two litters of three to five young.[5] The two breeding seasons are from February to April and from June to August. During the winter, the chipmunk may enter long periods of torpor, but does not truly hibernate. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_chipmunk )

 

Everyday May Not Be Good, But There Is Something Good In Everyday.

March 27, 2020 — 14 Comments

F/9.0, 1/250, ISO 320.

Muskrat

Why did the dog sit in the shade?

Because he didn’t want to be a hot dog!

Interesting Fact: Native Americans have long considered the muskrat to be a very important animal. Some predict winter snowfall levels by observing the size and timing of muskrat lodge construction.[26]  In several Native American creation myths, the muskrat dives to the bottom of the primordial sea to bring up the mud from which the earth is created, after other animals have failed in the task. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskrat#Behavior )

 

Hey, these are my nuts!

March 24, 2020 — 21 Comments

F/5.6, 1/160, ISO 800.

Eastern Chipmunk

Why did the skeleton burp?

Because it didn’t have the guts to fart.

Interesting Fact: A chipmunk’s cheeks can expand to three times the size of its head and they have pouches in their cheeks where they hold their food until they get back to store it in their burrows ( http://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/fun-interesting-facts-about-chipmunks.html )

 

 

Have You Seen My Nuts?

September 29, 2019 — 2 Comments

F/6.3, 1/50, ISO 320.

Eastern Chipmunk

What is the difference between a poorly dressed man on a bicycle and a handsomely dressed man on a unicycle?

Attire

Interesting Fact: It is mainly active during the day, spending most of its day foraging. It prefers bulbs, seeds, fruits, nuts, green plants, mushrooms, insects, worms, and bird eggs. Like other chipmunks, it transports food in pouches in its cheeks. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_chipmunk )

 

 

Pleeeease!

June 15, 2019 — 39 Comments

F/6.3, 1/160, ISO 320.

Chipmunk

Why don’t chipmunks wear skinny jeans?

Because their nuts won’t fit.

Interesting Fact: Chipmunks generally gather food on the ground in areas with underbrush, rocks, and logs, where they can hide from predators like hawks, foxes, coyotes, weasels, and snakes. They feed on insects, nuts, berries, seeds, fruit, and grain which they stuff into their generous cheek pouches and carry to their burrow or nest to store. ( http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/chipmunks/ )