Making New Friends

What have Grendel and Bentley been up to for the last few weeks?

They've been making new friends, Of course!






This is Mr. Chipmunk.
I'm thinking that he's an Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus), although I haven't found a picture with markings quite like his. He's very handsome. Of course, Bentley and Grendel want to make friends with him. I'm encouraging this friendship, but as window friends only- you can look, but not touch! I'm afraid that the cats will play too rough with their new friend, and Mr. Chipmunk won't survive the encounter.

The cat's other new friend happens to be a sparrow, a chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina), to be exact. This sparrow is decked out in his summer colors. According to the Stokes Field Guide to the Birds, this guy eats seeds and insects on the grounds, which is mainly where I have seen him. The Grendel Monster really wants to be friends with this bird, but I'm betting any friendship on the sparrows part is one-way only.

Promoting cross-species friendships is always a good thing, especially when you have friendly cats who are always up for play with their smaller, more edible feathery companions, but bribery with food sure does make these friendships happen faster! When I first put up the bird feeder, for months I never saw any birds, and now I've got a regular bird and mammal crew showing up throughout the day. It definitely keeps things interesting, and the cats out of trouble.

Some More information about:
Eastern Chipmunks (Smithsonian Webstite)
Chipping Sparrow(Cornell University Website)


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