What would a chipmunk do with a bird?

[kulu se mama]

i am sitting in my family room watching the bengals game, when i notice the whole flock of sparrows moves from my birdfeeders onto the patio with much squawking.

then i notice a chipmunk running across the patio with a live sparrow in his mouth.

i immediately ran out and chased the chipmunk who then dropped the sparrow and ran into his hole.

the sparrow appears to be unharmed.

i guess i have 2 questions - how do you imagine that the chipmunk had the opportunity to catch a bird, and what do you suppose the chipmunk was going to do with the bird?

unless i am confused, i thought chipmunks ate mostly seeds and maybe some small insects.

[JSngry]

[patricia]

i am sitting in my family room watching the bengals game, when i notice the whole flock of sparrows moves from my birdfeeders onto the patio with much squawking.

then i notice a chipmunk running across the patio with a live sparrow in his mouth.

i immediately ran out and chased the chipmunk who then dropped the sparrow and ran into his hole.

the sparrow appears to be unharmed.

i guess i have 2 questions - how do you imagine that the chipmunk had the opportunity to catch a bird, and what do you suppose the chipmunk was going to do with the bird?

unless i am confused, i thought chipmunks ate mostly seeds and maybe some small insects.

Chipmunks are not carnivores. I suspect that catching the sparrow was a successful test of paw/eye co-ordination for the chipmunk.

It's probably best compared to a dog chasing a car. What would the dog do if it caught the car??

[JSngry]

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

i am sitting in my family room watching the bengals game, when i notice the whole flock of sparrows moves from my birdfeeders onto the patio with much squawking.

then i notice a chipmunk running across the patio with a live sparrow in his mouth.

i immediately ran out and chased the chipmunk who then dropped the sparrow and ran into his hole.

the sparrow appears to be unharmed.

i guess i have 2 questions - how do you imagine that the chipmunk had the opportunity to catch a bird, and what do you suppose the chipmunk was going to do with the bird?

unless i am confused, i thought chipmunks ate mostly seeds and maybe some small insects.

Chipmunks are not carnivores. I suspect that catching the sparrow was a successful test of paw/eye co-ordination for the chipmunk.

It's probably best compared to a dog chasing a car. What would the dog do if it caught the car??

Our (deceased) pug would have chewed it a bit, then brought it back, wagging his tail, to show us how naughty he'd been.

He certainly wouldn't have tried to drive it, because my wife never gave him driving lessons.

MG

[kulu se mama]

A chipmunk will eat a wide variety of food. Its favorites are nuts, small seeds, berries and fruit. Most of these will be collected from the ground after they have fallen from the tree or bush. The chipmunk will climb a tree if necessary to obtain food, but this is not their preferred method. The Chipmunk will also eat Fungi, grass, and leaves at times.

The chipmunk is carnivorous. It will eat meat, such as slugs, snails, aphids and other insects. It has also been know to eat small birds, including their eggs, mice, and even small snakes.

i found this on a chipmunk website.

notice the second paragraph.

they have been known to eat small birds.

who would have thunk it?

[Jim Alfredson]

Great, so now the chipmunk will die because you took away it's dinner. Nice one.

[kulu se mama]

Great, so now the chipmunk will die because you took away it's dinner. Nice one.

at least i'll be a hero to my 2 dogs.

they hate the chipmunk.

[(BB)]

Maybe he was going to swallow the bird to catch the spider, that wiggled and jiggled and ticked inside him.

[Jazzmoose]

My guess is dinner, drinks, maybe a movie, and then...

[Aggie87]

Let's give the chipmunk a first class ticket to NYC to address JLarsen's squirrel problem...

[Van Basten II]

Maybe the chipmunk will torture the sparrow by playing his recordings.

[sal]

Squirrels eat each other sometimes.

[Chuck Nessa]

So do humans.

[Adam]

but squirrels don't often eat humans.

[Jazzmoose]

Just their nuts.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

[Brad]

I don't know if chipmunks are like squirrels but the squirrels on our porch get along with the birds. That must have been one ticked off chipmunk.