It’s a peaceful coexistence for the most part, and I have a fondness for most of the animals, except for squirrels (because they destroy my bird feeders; have gotten up in the engine of my truck and caused hundreds of dollars’ worth of damage; and got in our attic once); and the occasional snake (hate them all). And of course I’m not crazy about skunks for obvious reasons.
Last Friday we had an interesting incident with a deer. It was early afternoon and Wife had been out for a while. When she came in, I was working, and she beckoned me to come look out the window. There in the front yard, in a little crevice where the water meter is located, was a tiny fawn, obviously recently born, curled up in a little ball. I could hardly see him (or her, but I’ll use the masculine pronoun for consistency), but his little ears were barely sticking up above the grass.
We had witnessed something similar about 20 years ago when we lived in another house and a fawn much like this one was snuggled tightly up against a tree, in a little indentation at the roots.
When that happened, Wife called our local Animal Control office because we were concerned the fawn had been abandoned by its mother. The person to whom Wife spoke, however, told Wife that in almost all cases such as this, the mother placed the fawn there and will return for him later, usually within a day or so. We were instructed to not interfere.
Sure enough, within 24 hours the fawn was gone. The mother had obviously returned and herded her little one to a safer place.
With this situation a few days ago, we recalled the similar incident from long ago. We couldn’t stay away from the window, however, and later that afternoon we watched and held our breath as a band of turkeys practically did a dance around the little guy, but never directly approached him. He was obviously scared and a couple of times got up and wobbled a bit, only to hunker back down in his makeshift bed.
That night we had terrible storms here with heavy rains and high winds. We were out to eat and waited out the weather a bit in the restaurant. We wondered about our new yard tenant. When we pulled into our driveway about 9 p.m., we could see his ears still just above the grass.
Saturday morning I started on a walk at 6:30 and he was gone. Mom had returned.
I’m fascinated by nature and how animals function, even right here among we humans. (But I still detest squirrels and snakes).
4 comments:
What a sweet photo! Poor little thing - I can imagine how terrifying those turkeys must have seemed to him. Glad mama came back for him. Baby animals are so cute (except for baby squirrels, which I presume look like rats).
We've had a banner year for witnessing wildlife close up. I love that picture.
I’ve been told by hunters turkey and deer often run together or near each other because their dominate senses compliment each other. (The turkey has better sight and sound and the deer has better smell). I haven’t ever had that confirmed, but it seems plausible.
www.thepulpitandthepen.com
I've come across a few new born fawns over the years though I've never had one that I could see from a window in my house. We've got one young fawn this year that spends a considerable amount of time cavorting in our backyard and under the girls trampoline while mom grazes.
My guess to the theory mentioned by Sage is that they just enjoy similar habitat and don't really depend on the other's senses. We have both that wander in droves behind our house but hardly ever at the same time.
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