The Little Young Chipmunk on the Lumber Stack

The Young Chipmunk Almost Too Small To See

I wasn’t out looking for wildlife that afternoon. I was working on the back door landing cover, hauling rafters I had already cut birdsmouths into, and I had pulled the Ranger pickup up near the woodshed to grab more screws.

That’s when I spotted him.

Sitting on a stack of leftover lumber from the woodshed I built late last fall was a very small young chipmunk. Around here, we see chipmunks all the time, but usually only for a second or two. They’re normally streaking across the ground, diving into a woodpile, or disappearing into a stack of logs waiting to be split.

This one was different.

He was just sitting there.

As best as I could tell, he hardly moved at all. He wasn’t running around, stuffing his cheeks, or darting from one hiding place to another. He simply sat on the edge of that old lumber stack while I sat there in the Ranger looking back at him.

Luckily, I had my Canon with me. My phone is fine for quick snapshots, but for small critters at a distance, it just doesn’t do the job. A chipmunk is already tiny, and this little fellow seemed even smaller than most, which made me wonder if he was a youngster.

So I stayed where I was and started taking pictures.

This young chipmunk sat quietly on the lumber stack, giving me just enough time to grab a photo.

The scene itself was nothing fancy. Just leftover boards, an old stump, grass, gravel, and a little chipmunk sitting still in the middle of an ordinary workday. But that’s how most things happen around here. You head out to get screws for a project, and the next thing you know, you’re having a quiet standoff with one of the smallest residents of the property.

My son eventually saw what I was doing and came walking up with his own camera. He wanted to get a little closer, which I figured might be pushing our luck. Sure enough, the chipmunk decided that was enough attention for one afternoon and disappeared.

That was the end of the photo session.

Later, I thought about how normal this kind of thing has become for us. Just today alone I saw at least five deer, one turkey hen, quail, several squirrels, and this little fellow on the lumber stack. For a lot of people, that would be a memorable wildlife day. Around here, it’s just another day on Woodsy Acres.

Still, I’m glad I noticed him.

There was nothing dramatic about it. No bear at the feeder. No cougar on the trail camera. No elk moving through the trees. Just a young chipmunk sitting quietly on leftover woodshed lumber while I was trying to build an awning over the back door landing.

But sometimes those are the moments that make this place feel the most alive.

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Materials

• Canon camera
• Ranger pickup
• Leftover lumber stack

Tools

• Canon camera

Observations

• Young chipmunks often rely on remaining perfectly still when they believe they haven’t been detected.
• Keeping a camera nearby makes it much easier to capture unexpected wildlife encounters.
• Some of the best moments around Woodsy Acres happen while working on completely unrelated projects.
• Wildlife encounters are simply part of everyday life here and often become the stories worth remembering.