Backyard Surprise: an unexpected visit from the twins

Late this morning I was wandering through the kitchen when I saw the twin yearling deer wandering into the yard, no doubt looking for our green grass.  I’m accustomed to seeing them early in the morning and as dusk comes, so their appearance close to midday caught me by surprise.  I reached for my camera and slowly opened the back door, speaking to them softly to let them know I was there. I sat cross legged on the porch and snapped photographs, first of one and then of the other.  I can’t help but notice that they no longer appear to be joined at the hip.  Look above; one is grazing behind the grapevine (upper left of the photograph), while the other is close to me.  Of course, they still stand together often, but not nose to nose like I’ve seem them so often before.Are they getting more alert about me?  I don’t think so.  I know soon I should start driving them away, teach them to fear people, but it’s so nice when they come to visit that I have a hard time doing it.  For now, I justify speaking softly to them by telling myself I’ll share a little of their world with you.

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader, including photographs.  Short excerpts with full URLs and attribution to Ozarkhomesteader are welcome.  Please contact me for permission to use photographs.

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Twins in the snow: deer neighbors

We’ve got more snow on the way here in the Ozarks.  The forecast reminded me that I have more photographs of deer neighbors to share.  Enjoy!A fawn (almost yearling) entering the yard.

In the background is the huge stone wall that my husband built from stones he found in the cleared area of the property.  I really do think we grow better rocks here than we do anything else.

The fawns (almost yearling) twins.

They always seem to know where the good grass is under the snow–or is that where I spilled some bird seed?

For more wildlife photography, see here, here,  here, and here.

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader, including all photographs.  Please contact me about permission to use photographs.

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It’s a boy! deer neighbors

Deer do not show their sex easily when they are young, and often by the time they are old enough for us to see clearly (as in if they have developed antlers), we no longer connect them to the fawns we saw so often.  Take a look at this fawn.Do you see what I see?  Are those bumps the beginnings of antlers?

Yep!  I’d say those are the start of buttons–and that soon this little guy will be a button buck!

Now look more closely on this one.  Are those going to be antlers too?  I think so.You may wonder what had him in this strange pose.  One of my cats was pretending to stalk him.

Copyright Ozarkhomesteader 2010

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Ozark Relations: deer in the backyard

copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader

We have apple trees in our yard, and we have a lot of green material in the lawn that’s winter hardy.  Therefore, we have deer.  Sometimes you can’t tell who belongs to whom among the deer who visit.  These now-spotless fawns leave little question that they are twins.

And the big doe?  friend or foe?

Yes, she’s their mother.

The fawns already stray far from their mother.  Soon, she’ll have new fawns.  In my experience, though, she’ll continue to eat with them every now and then.

You may also be interested in this post:  https://ozarkhomesteader.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/ozark-animals-you-cant-choose-your-neighbors/ .

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