New Jersey seems to be overrun with chipmunks this year

If I look at my deck any time of the day, but especially in the morning, it’s like a cartoon of chipmunks and squirrels racing back and forth.

I know I’ve had chipmunks in my yard for the past few years but this year they are out of control. They terrorized my tomato garden in mid-summer, but now they seem to be concentrating on gathering acorns and digging in my planters.

They are cute little things that usually don’t bother me, but this year they become a little bit of a nuisance.

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Not enough of a nuisance for me to trap them, hunt them down, or eliminate them, but I still want them to know this is MY house. You may have noticed the same thing around your yard here in New Jersey. There was an abundance about four years ago. It turns out this may be a "mast" year for acorns.

A mast year comes every two to five years when trees produce a larger-than-usual number of acorns. My house sits under a large oak tree which drops acorns on the roof and deck every couple of minutes this time of year, which creates a lot of noise and a lot of food for the chipmunks.

The squirrels don’t mind them either. But it seems like the chipmunks outnumbered the squirrels in my yard this year. You may have noticed the same. Chalk it up to a mast. A banner year for acorns and a banner year for chipmunks running around your yard.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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