As if I’m the first one that’s ever noticed that!
I took this photo of a doe that’s brought her new fawn down
to the bird-feeders to sample a little corn and deer-feed in mid-May of this year. At first
the little one was very skittish about coming so close but my good looks and irresistible
charm soon overcame that. (Along with a healthy dose of deer-feed which the
little one seems to prefer over corn.)
Three and a half months and 1146 photos later (Not all of deer!!) I took this shot
of the same doe-fawn pair in pretty much the same spot during the first few
days of September.
The not-so-small fawn had just run down the steep bank off
to the left and, at full speed, headbutted the fawn right in the udder with a
hefty thwack. She’s a better parent than I would be, standing quietly and enduring
this abuse.
The reddish color of fresh-fawn has faded almost to the same
tawny brown as mom and the fawn’s spots have started to fade.
And here’s the same fawn a few days ago (mid-October) The
spots are history and we can see by the fresh new nubbins on his head that he
is definitely a he.
It’s rutting season and mom will soon be breaking the
pair-bond between them to get on about the business of incubating and raising another little
one, but with his notched ear it will still be easy to keep track of this
not-so-little-one.
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