I Ate the Whole Thing

To those who are squeamish – DO NOT READ FURTHER!

Roughly 50 years ago an eastern cottontail had made a nest beneath our front window and behind a line of small shrubs. There she delivered a litter of young. I no longer remember how we knew the nest and its occupants were there, but we weren’t the only ones who found the nest. Later, I looked out the window and saw an eastern chipmunk eating one of the young rabbits, grabbed a camera and managed to get a (not very good) photograph of the predation –

It’s well known that most species of squirrels (eastern chipmunks are ground squirrels) have a taste for meat as well as the nuts, berries and seeds that are usually thought of as squirrel food.

One recent day while we were walking a path through a beautiful woodland we took a break to sit and enjoy the day and the forest. We hadn’t sat there long before an eastern chipmunk appeared on a nearby log. The chipmunk was eating and posed nicely for a photo –

By the third or fourth photo it became apparent that the chipmunk was feasting on a small frog, apparently a small wood frog –

Time for a video –

After it had eaten the entire frog, the fastidious chipmunk, having no napkin, wiped its mouth on the log and left.