An Unusual Kiss

Butting Heads

I caught these two young bucks going head to head outside my window the other day. I think they were more playing than fighting, and it didn't last long.

Baby Deer

Fawn

Haven't seen very many fawns out and about this year. This one turned up in the yard the other evening.

Thursday Thirteen

Here are 13 of my daily visitors:

They stand in the little hidden glen in front of my house all the time. As you can see, they frequently lie down. Sometimes all of them lie down at once, especially on dreary, foggy days.

They are curious animals and will come all the way to the house. I have pictures of them looking in the window; last spring one gave birth right outside my bedroom, beneath the spruce tree. They stand and watch as we drive by the car. They won't eat out of my hand but they do not run far when I go outside. As you can see, when I stepped out to take a picture many of them looked at me, but a few simply ignored me.

1. These are whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus).

2. When a whitetail deer is startled, it will raise its tail to expose the white underside. This signal serves as a warning for other deer, and this instinct gives the whitetail deer its name.

3. Whitetail deer are the smallest members of the North American deer family.

4. Male whitetails, or "bucks," range from 100 to 300 pounds, while females, or "does," range from 75 to 200 pounds.

5. Whitetail deer tend to be most active during dawn and at dusk. (Mine appear to be the exception to this rule - I see them at all hours of the day.)

6. They have relatively small home ranges, usually only a square mile or less.

7. Whitetails gather into same-sex groups, or herds, to graze throughout the summer.

8. The rut, when these animals mate, begins in early September. During this time bucks will fight each other to claim the right to mate with does in the area.

9. Whitetail deer can run at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour, and swim at speeds of up to 13 miles per hour.

10. Whitetail deer have a very long stride when running, up to 25 feet.

11. Whitetail deer have a diverse diet, and have been known to eat over 600 different plants. They love to eat acorns, grasses, leaves, crops like soybeans and corn, berries, twigs, fungi, fruit, and nuts. They also eat roses, including the part with the thorns, as I have seen for myself.

12. Whitetail deer have a four chambered stomach, which allows them to digest extremely tough vegetation. They will eat quickly without chewing while feeding, and later they will cough their food up and chew it. (That is kind of gross.)

13. The whitetail's coat will change with the seasons, from reddish brown in the spring and summer when vegetation is growing to grayish brown in the winter. This helps the deer to stay camouflaged all year round. The change in color happens quickly, usually in 1 or 2 weeks.

Facts from this website.
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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 492nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Resting

Where Santa's Reindeer Take a Rest

The Eight-Point Buck

This lovely and magnificent-looking creature had the misfortune of passing in sight of my husband's muzzleloader on Saturday. He is now hanging in the butcher's freezer.

Fortunately I was able to grab a few shots of him through the window before my husband saw him.

I would much rather shoot deer with a camera than with a gun, though I know hunting is necessary to keep the population down. We are overrun with deer here on the farm and they do a number on the crop fields every year.

But still, the vision of him bounding along the woodland path is more dear to me than his antlers on the garage wall.

Having a Drink

I hope those are flies and not ticks on that poor doe.

All done and ready to rumble.

Boots, Gandalf, and Galadriel

Yesterday, I noticed a doe wandering around the house. From the way she was acting, I thought she either had a fawn close by, or was getting ready to have one.

I named her "Boots" because of her two front white legs.

Around 10 a.m., I glanced out my window to see Boots beneath the blue spruce, having a baby!

Unfortunately, because the tree limbs hang so low to the ground, I was not able to get good shots of the birth.

It turned out to be two babies!



One was a little darker in color and larger than the other.



They were about the size of large rabbits.

They moved out into the sunshine for a minute.

Mom stood up, and they went back to get their first milk.

Mom sure picked good covering, didn't she?

 

That was hard work, I'm sure, having just been born!

Then she moved them, as I knew she would. I went to the other window and grabbed this shot as they passed
our tiny little garden.

I was able to get a good shot of this one!

I waited just a moment - I don't walk that fast, anyway - and then slipped out the back door to see where they went.
I saw Boots with this baby, but the other was nowhere to be seen.



Then I spotted it peeking around this tree. It was a long way from it's mother. I started backing toward the door.



To my surprise, the little one went in the other direction.

I snapped shots as I backed away and went to go back inside.

The baby took a couple of hops, and ended up under another blue spruce.

And this is where it lay for hours.

I fretted over the little fawn most of the day, because I was afraid I'd interfered with some bonding process or something. I saw Boots come back about 11:30, but when I went out at 2 p.m. to see, the little fawn was still there. But sometime between 2 and 5, she came back and found it. I was quite relieved.

The little twins now sport the names Gandalf and Galadriel. In a few weeks I won't know which fawns running around here are them, actually, so I suppose every fawn this summer will be called those names.

It made for an interesting change of pace, at any rate.

The Deer Are Not Afraid

We have lived in our house for 29 years. The animals are used to us. They stand and watch while the car drives up and down the driveway. They will run a few yards when we walk out the door, then turn and look at us as if to say, what did you bother me for?

When my husband was mowing, I glanced out the window and saw this:

There are actually two deer up there; one is a little further in the back and I shot this through the window screen.

Isn't it amazing how close they come, though?

Taking a Rest

A Song of Snow and Ice

Little Christmas Eve

In Norway, Sweden, and neighboring countries in Europe, they call the day before Christmas Eve "Little Christmas Eve." So happy Little Christmas Eve to those who celebrate.

Here is one of Santa's secret helpers checking up on me. I hope I've been good!

Deer Porn

I have seen deer do just about everything up here on the farm. Give birth, nurse, chase each other, stomp a cat, stamp their feet, huff and snort, eat and drink.

But until this morning, I don't recall seeing them go at it during the rut.

The pictures would have been better if it hadn't been (a) so dark and (b) I wasn't shooting through the window and the screen.

Beware - this is sexy stuff!