More chipmunks

This has been a banner year for chipmunks! I usually see only one or two a year but so far this year I've already seen at least five. This guy (or girl), unlike the one I saw near our office, was way out in the woods behind our office. I startled it and I heard it running through the underbrush looking for the safety of a tree. It sounded like a bird when it was running, though. I thought at first it might be an Eastern Towhee because those birds forage in the undergrowth but they don't run through the brush until they find a safe tree - they fly out of the bushes tweeting their warning (or swearing at me, I'm not sure which).

When I startled this chipmunk and it dashed toward a tree "tweeting", I was confused. I realized it wasn't a bird when I heard it climbing the tree. I stopped to listen and didn't hear more climbing so I slowly worked my way around the tree and got this picture. You can see that it was "on its toes", so to speak, and ready to climb higher if necessary. But I never got closer than 10 - 12 feet so it didn't feel threatened. Or maybe, like my dog Charlie, I have the kind of face that is non-threatening to chipmunks.