Lovely garden pests

Sunday evening when that combining was going on, Courtney's daddy had driven by with a truckload of soybeans and noticed deer out by the garden. Knowing how I love a good photo shoot, he texted me about them. I switched to the zoom lens on my DSLR, grabbed a jacket and headed out. Here's what he'd seen. 

They were three fawns. Triplets? Maybe. There was no doe around. Now I know who's been visiting my garden a lot lately, leaving tracks as they knocked tomatoes on the ground and munched carrot tops and a few flowers. Such beautiful pests they are! And this time of year, it doesn't matter much what they do to the garden crops, as they're about done, anyway.

I sneaked up very slowly, inching my way toward them, but they weren't very afraid. They were only slightly wary, and I was able to get within 30 feet of them! They even came toward me, quite curious about me. I kept snapping away, ending up with over 150 photos! LOL I culled them down some, but still have so many because they were just too good to delete. Don't worry, you won't have to look at all of them. Here are just some of my favorites. Enjoy!

If you're wondering what they were looking at so intently above, here it is:

Rainbow was getting tired of me ignoring her while she so (im)patiently waited for her supper. She had been wrapping herself around my ankles, then gave that up and lay in the grass with her back toward me, meaning she wasn't very happy with me. Then she gave up and wandered off to where she sat above.

The fawns stayed. I left with the DSLR and came back with the iPad and even got a few videos (but you'll have to check for them on Instagram... I don't think I'll upload them here, unless someone requests it). I finally left to get that combine video, and they were still there! Their mama probably wouldn't be very proud of them. I think they need a few more lessons in the ways of wild animals, but meanwhile, I sure enjoyed the photo shoot they gave me.

A new sighting

I glanced out the kitchen window late yesterday afternoon, and I saw this. (Yeah, I know the evergreen tree is dying, but look under it.)

It sure looked like a fox to me!

So I grabbed the DSLR and headed for the bathroom window where I could quickly and easily remove the screen. I took a bunch of shots, and then I opened the window carefully for even better shots. Yep, definitely a fox!

A very tired fox. I shouted at it to see if I could get a photo of it in motion.

It barely moved... only lifted its head. It seemed to have a swollen face.

I think it may have had a very bad toothache.

Finally I cranked the window shut, which made some noise, and it got up and slowly trotted away.

It definitely looked ill. It may have been starving to death from not being able to eat because of its soreness.

Poor thing.

Wildlife

The day I took the photos of the falling water drops, I noticed this big guy out in our backyard.

He made quite a contrast against all the white of the snow.

It turned out he wasn't alone. Even the females were looking quite colorful in the sunlight.

And there were more. I counted 7 in all, although I think one is missing from this photo:

Tuesday morning I happened to see this little guy out back:

He didn't want to come out far enough for me to get a clear shot at him, though.

I'll get him someday!

Morning not-so-loveliness!

Looking out the bedroom window this morning, I saw these two little stinkers! (Click on the photo to enlarge for a better look.)

Sorry about the effects from taking the pics through a screen. I guess these are called "screen shots". Haha!

They were young ones, just having a great time running around and digging everywhere.

Or maybe they were very hungry and hurriedly looking for food.

Better not tell Courtney about this next photo!

Cuddles had noticed them, too, and she went on top of the sandbox shortly afterwards. If you look closely, you can see what she thought about the guests!

The skunks disappeared from sight, so I proceeded to get dressed and headed outside to feed my cats. Oops! Had to run back in to get the camera again!

I got braver and opened the door farther.

Hmmm.... not a good angle:

No, it wasn't aiming at me, thank goodness! It heard me and scurried off. Hopefully never to be seen again!

I wonder where their mama was. Maybe she decided they were old enough and sent them out to hunt for their own food. Or maybe she got hit by a car or something. I hope. Phew! At least these young'uns didn't leave any lingering odor.

'Tis the season

Pheasant hunting season, that is. Here's just a little teaser for any hunters that are looking so hard for the birds. He was right out there by my garden.

My apologies for the poor quality of the photos. I took them through a screen. Mark was giving me grief about washing my windows, so I didn't do those. (Or, maybe I just haven't gotten to them yet.)

Wildlife

All the snow makes finding food very difficult for wildlife. These hen pheasants were by the lilac bushes behind our house this afternoon.

A little while later I saw this little cottontail. He was munching on the bushes.

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

There have been lots of deer tracks around, too. No doubt it's not easy for them to even walk in the deep snow.

Scat!

No, I'm not telling you to go away (please don't do that!)! I'm telling you, in the nicest way I could think of, what I found on my deck this morning. Grrrrr! Since it was mostly fresh corn, undoubtedly a 'coon was the culprit. At least it was fresh and washed off easily. And better yet, it wasn't on the mat... this time.

What a blog post, eh? Just be glad I didn't gross you out with a photo. ;-)

Fawn update

Today I saw a doe and her fawn bounding across our alfalfa field. I don't know whether it was really "my" fawn or not, but I'm going to let myself believe that it was. :-)

Fawn update

No, I haven't heard the fawn again. No, I haven't seen it again. BUT... I've seen evidence that it's still around. I found little hoof prints in my garden this morning... alongside bigger hoof prints. Mama's teaching baby where to find good food, just as I figured she would.

It appears that tomato tops were the flavor of choice last night. Only one, fortunately... considering that I only have two to begin with. It'll come back. (And so will the deer.) The beet tops are really too tiny to make a meal out of yet... but they did get tasted. That's all the damage I could see, other than the tops of a couple of wildflowers that I have more than enough of, so no biggie there.

I have a couple different kinds of repellents that I've bought this year, but with all the rain we've had, I haven't used it because it would just get washed off, and I didn't want to waste it. It ain't cheap! I did spray the tomatoes awhile back, but apparently it did get washed off... or the tops outgrew it. They're sprayed again now as of this morning. At least the chance of rain is getting smaller... but it's still there.

Conclusion: The fawn is alive and learning. ;-)

Fawn update

I was just outside and heard the fawn crying again. I thought, "Uh oh!" So I waded through the long wet grass and alfalfa (it's been rainy/foggy/drizzly all day) to find it. On my way down, I saw Mama Doe again, so that made me feel better. She and I stared at each other for a bit, and then she took off. I continued on to check on her baby, saw it in the distance and called to it... and it came right to me! I loved that! Still didn't touch it, though. It looked to be in good shape, so I'm assuming Mama is taking good care of it. It must just be an insistent little one when it's hungry! :-)

And now I must go change out of my wet jeans and make us some supper, 'cause I'm hungry, too! ;-)

An added note: Hubby said tonight that a friend told him that when a doe has twins, which is quite common, she doesn't keep both fawns in the same place. I did a little Google searching just now and found this article by the Maryland DNR titled Think Twice Before "Rescuing" That White-Tailed Fawn! It said they can be separated by up to 200 feet! So it's possible that there's another baby around here somewhere. That could explain this one's cries... maybe a little extra loneliness and/or hunger pangs because Mama isn't around much.

You learn something new every day! At least this was new to me!

The fawn story

My apologies for keeping you waiting so long for the story behind the fawn videos... it was a busy day. I had to do the grocery run plus buy some flowers and get them planted before the forecasted rains come. Good job done.

So here we go... early this morning I was outside in front of the house and heard this strange noise. It sorta sounded like a bird, but the longer I listened, the more it sounded like an animal. I moved to the edge of the driveway and looked down into the trees for a bit, and suddenly I saw the fawn moving about as it cried. So of course I ran back to the house for my camera. I decided to brave the wet grass and potential for wood ticks and went down through the trees.

As I made my way to the fawn, I saw its mother also heading toward it. But then she saw me and ran off somewhere, so I continued to the fawn. Obviously, it wasn't very afraid of me. I snapped a few pics, then started talking to it, and it started coming toward me, which is when I took the videos. It actually came right up to me and sniffed at my legs, as shown in the center picture below.

It was so adorable, and I wanted soooooo badly to pet it, but I didn't. I was afraid if I did, my scent on it might cause its mother to reject it. So I took a few more pics and left, hoping the doe wasn't far away and would come and take care of her baby.

I listened outside several times during the rest of the day, and I didn't hear anything, so I assumed all was well. Until early this evening. I heard the fawn crying again. So now I don't know if its mother actually came and fed it or not.

Perhaps she hadn't been feeding it before, and that's why it was wandering around and crying? Or maybe she'd just been off grazing somewhere and was just returning to feed it when I found it this morning? And was off again this evening? I have no idea, and I'll just have to wait and see what happens. But I'm kinda worried about it.....

Thursday morning update: All was quiet this morning. Hopefully Mama Doe is doing her job. If I learn anything new, I'll let you know in a new post. Otherwise, let's hope no news is good news.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

My day's been made!

Here's a little preview for you. Photos and story to come later.

Sorry for the quality of the first video. Hard to focus when it was coming right toward me!

From the back yard

Hen Pheasants

Wish I could've gotten a pic of the one when it was sitting way up high in the evergreen tree!

Oh, deer!

It's now deer hunting season around here, which reminded me of some photos I took last July at my son's place. They're not very clear, because I took them from quite a distance and really should have had a tripod (somehow I didn't think the deer would stand there long enough for me to run home and get it ;-) ), but I was just glad I happened to have the camera along in the first place (to take more pics of Courtney, of course).

If you look closely, you can see she has a scar at the base of her neck... perhaps an old hunting wound? She is also very thin.... you can see her ribs as she's standing there.

I wish I could get pics of the deer that come through our yard. They made themselves right at home in my garden, eating everything from beet tops to tomatoes! Since it was at the end of the gardening season, though, I didn't care much. They've been pretty brave, too, as I've seen droppings about 10 feet out in front of our house. Hopefully by the time hunting season is over, they'll have been thinned out a little. Yes, I think they're beautiful, and I love to watch them, but they can also be very big pests.