It is about time I gave you a deer update.
As a recap, as with most years past, we typically have a Band of Deer, here at our home. This is true most of the year around. During the past Winter, we had a Band of Eight. I make it sound like a musical octet: Two tubas, three horns, and a few violins. No. Deer.
We watch and we suppose. We think that Tilly is the Matriarch. She has been with us for several years. That girl is easy to identify. Tilly has a hanging-tongue-issue. Regardless. They always come as one.
That is, until they get pregnant.
It all changes then.
The young boy deers go off on their own. Mostly. We see them in onesies. Right now their horns are just little fuzzy nubs on their heads. We have two boys. Comet and Prancer.
A word on Prancer. He was the deer who was extremely injured on his right front leg. I am fairly certain it was broken. Badly. He was the topic here a couple of months ago. We saw him in his early injured stage, very thin, and very impaired. Since that time he comes to our feeders on a regular basis. Besides a slight limp, he looks marvelous.
The rest of the girls are hard to differentiate. They vary in color and size, in a negligible way. They come on their own, also. Sometimes in two’s. But like the new Star Wars film, mostly they are Solo.
But, we know they are birthing near our home. They always go back to their same “directions” every night.
And now the fun begins. They begin to bring their newly born fawns, here to our feeders. A couple nights ago, we saw our first. (S)he is as cute as cute can be. And as fast as lightning. Every year we see this, and it never gets old. There is something about babies.
So the herd will be back together soon, and continue to grow.
We love this, and feel so fortunate to be a part of their deer lives.
We love, and we watch, and we admire them, in their natural beauty and their grace.
Until hunting season comes. And then we hope and pray.
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“Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it’s beauty.”
― Albert Einstein
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“I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.”
― William Shakespeare
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“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
― John Muir
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