My husband, Nathan, has spent a great deal of time placing bird feeders in our back yard, and now our woods is a veritable menagerie: goldfinches, wrens, morning doves, chickadees, titmice, a couple of different types of woodpeckers, bluejays, brown-headed cowbirds, thrushes, cardinals, sparrows…I simply can’t remember them all.

Seeds attract other animals, too. This year we have been blessed with a bunch of chipmunks; one in particular, in June, started coming up onto the porch looking for leftovers. Then, in July, she started coming up on the porch when people were out there, hoping to get a handout (and we obliged, of course). She has also taken, since the beginning of August, to “begging” for food, and when I don’t pay attention to her, she will leap up onto the edge of the chair, and sometimes in my lap, as though to say “excuse me, but I’m here and you are not paying attention to me.” While she has also allowed me to pet her on her rear end with a cautious finger, I don’t do this often. Yes, I grew up in the woods, and I’m obviously not afraid of its residents, but she is still a wild animal and needs to be respected and treated as such.

Here, a mix of what we feed Miss Cheese. The small white seeds are safflower. Those are her favorites, because she seems to eat those first.

Nathan named her peu de fromage (little cheese), but I just called her Little Cheese and now she has become known as Little Miss Cheese or Miss Cheese. I’ve put a photo or two up on Facebook, but people have asked for video. I haven’t been able to get footage of her jumping in my lap yet (it happens very fast and then it’s gone), but I have been able to get video of her doing everything else, including begging. She has also grown over the summer, and people ask us how we know it’s her and not one of the others. She has a kink in her tail (you can see it in the last photo here, and in the video footage).

These photos (above and below) were taken in June, when she would come up on the porch but not get too close to us.

This was taken in July. This is when she started to come very close to people.

Enjoy!