Ok. That makes sense -- a lot of our names for common animals were brought over and then applied to any likely candidate! There are ferrets in the US, but they are much less common than skunks. It made nonsense out of some nursery rhymes, since our "robin red breast" actually has a rusty orange chest, and is a thrush, unrelated to the true robin you have.

"Chippy" -- never heard that one, at least with that meaning. I won't say what I thought it was.