"Having a cup of joe with Little Joe"   That was the caption I immediately thought of when I received this charming picture from Kathleen in Deptford.  Thank you Kathleen!

Chipmunks can be endearing - how many of you grew up listening to the Alvin and The Chipmunks record album!  But they also can wreck havoc at the bird feeder- they LOVE safflower which we recommend to solve squirrel, grackle and starling issues.  Come in and see us for baffles for any type of pole or post system if Alvin and his friends are giving you headaches!

Did you know:

Chipmunk lifespan: 2-3 years in the wild; 5-8 years in captivity. There are 22 chipmunk species.

A chipmunk weighs 2.5 - 5 oz while a grey squirrel typically weighs 1 - 1.5 pounds! (Maybe your squirrels weigh more because they chow down from your bird feeders - stop by and see us - we can solve THAT problem for you!)

The eastern chipmunk has two fewer grinding teeth than other chipmunks.

A chipmunk can carry nine large nuts at a time: four in each cheek pouch and one between its teeth.

The chipmunk stores only hard food that does not mold, such as nuts and cones.

A chipmunk may store up to 8 pounds of food in its burrows.

If you need a smile, visit Friendly The Chipmunk and look at their humorous chipmunk pictures.  It's a website posted by a couple who had a very friendly chipmunk visitor in their back yard!

Do you have a picture to share with us for the Nature's Picture Corner feature?  Please send them to sillybird348@comcast.net.

Judy, Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge employee extraordinaire, recently shared this adventure as recounted by Luanne, another invaluable Cedar Run employee.   Little Jonah (at left) was rescued (when he was an egg) from the throat of a snake!  Read on........

Things My Mother Never Taught Me

Memorial Day weekend our neighbors were away and 16 year old Gregory from across the street was in charge of feeding and cleaning their outside animals.  I was put in charge of checking on mother parakeet and mother duck, both sitting on their respective nests and expecting hatches within the week.

Monday morning I'm just out of bed and Gregory is knocking at the back door.  A snake, eating the duck eggs, had shot him over to Dan and me hoping for help.  Still in my pajamas and hair uncombed, Gregory and I went racing in for the rescue.  During that race, he explained the snake had only the first egg in its mouth.  Not so bad.  We could retrieve that fairly easily and send the snake off to overnight camp...our euphemism for taking it for a long drive.

Entering the duck compound it was obvious the snake was creating havoc.  Mother duck was frantic and the two daddy ducks were equally disturbed.  Perhaps not as disturbed as I was when we realized the snake had proceeded with the egg and it was now six inches down its throat.  Aauugh!  I want that egg back!  I want that BABY back!

This is the part my mother never taught me.  How does one retrieve an egg from the digestive tract of a snake?  I didn't care to think about it.  Wanting neither snake nor duckling to die, there really was no choice.  It must come out the way it went in. 

Problem # 1.  The snake really wasn't interested in my plan.  However, the egg would be crushed any moment in the constricting throat of our uninvited breakfast guest.

Problem #2.  When picking up a wild snake one must grasp it behind the jaws so it can't turn and bite you.  Not in this case...the egg would be passing along that route.  But as I said, don't think about it.  Grabbing, instead, behind the egg I started the slow squeeze towards the head.  "Please don't bite me. I want that baby back. Gregory I bet you never saw this before. How many eggs are left in the nest?  Don't you break that egg, you beast....," I kept up the nervous patter just to take my mind off what I was doing.

Progress.

Problem #3.  A snake has to unhinge its jaws in order to swallow prey larger than its mouth.  What happens when a snake doesn't WANT to unhinge its jaws?  You wait it out.  Still afraid the egg would crush, I kept up steady pressure hoping the snake would simply get tired of clamping its jaws.  By now Gregory and I could see the egg inside the throat.  No way could it bite me now.  I began to realize I just might accomplish my goal and then have a really mad snake to contend with.  That's when thought returned.  I was no longer queen snake wrangler. I was damsel in distress.  "Back to my house, Gregory.  Dan can take it from there!"

Something you don't see every day....a pajama clad, unkempt woman wrestling a 5 foot snake eating an egg accompanied by a 6 foot something teenager running down the street.  Fortunately, the neighbors have come to expect such behavior of me.

Dan was at this point aware of my plight and produced a garbage can with lid. There were now two goals on my mind.  Claim ownership of the egg and get that snake out of my hands and into that can.  I was no longer sure which was more important. 

Another minute and a firm squeeze later the egg was forced back into the snake's mouth.  Mission accomplished?  Not quite.  I had never considered what backward pointing fangs could do. The egg was now in danger of being punctured and I could hear the fangs raking against the shell of our baby.  It wouldn't budge.  So close to rescue and so close to losing my nerve I simply reached up and pulled down the snake's lower lip.  Do snake's have lips?  I say they do.  

Out popped the slimy egg and into the can I threw that snake.  Then I did a little squeamish, disgusted dance like it might shake off the snake cooties.

Our duckling was safe.  We could hear its gentle movements inside the protective shell.  Mother duck soon resumed her sitting and baby Jonah hatched two days later, unaware of her adventure. 

Was the rescue worth it?  Absolutely.  Would I do it, again?  Positively.  If you are there to watch, however, you can expect the same little cootie dance to be performed afterwards. 

Luanne