More Whitetail Fawn Encounters

Slowly but surely, encounters with the newborn fawns are increasing. Shown immediately below is the doe, which was featured in the post of June 5th, when she was obviously very pregnant. She vanished on June 10th and I didn't see her again until the 14th when she came to the meadow with sunken flanks. As of yet I have not seen her fawn or fawns.

Canon 40-D: 17-40mm at 17mm-1/90 sec. f8 400 ISO

I finally saw another fawn on Sunday morning. No fawns followed the does to the meadow so eventually I left and took a short walk. When I returned a doe was walking from the meadow to the nearby woods. She was passing through an area with areas of tall grass interspersed with mowed strips. A small fawn was with her. I have suspected for the last week or so that this doe had a fawn nearby as her flanks were shrunken and she spent a lot of time in the brush near the meadow, emerging to feed for a few moments and then slipping back into the woods. Luckily she went on into the woods but the fawn walked into the tall grass and lay down, giving me a decent photo opportunity.

Canon 40-D: 17-40mm at 40 mm-1/60 sec. f8 400 ISO

I had no sooner than arrived at the meadow when the doe and fawn featured in the post of June 9th (the first one I saw this year) came running into the meadow, stopped quite near me and began nursing. I wish you could have heard the soft, rapid, mewing noise that the fawn made as it fed. (This was definitely the same doe, but if she had twins I can't say if this was the same fawn-only time will tell!

Canon 40-D: 70-200 mm at 200 mm-1/125 sec. f5.6 400 ISO

Due to a busy schedule, this will be the last post until Friday or Saturday when I hope to be able to return with further updates!

What's She Thinking?

Here is a shot of one of my favorite subjects. This was taken quite recently with the Canon 40D and 500mmF4 lens. This deer totally accepts me and was not alarmed at my presence.

She and her cohorts, live over a mile from the nearest highway and are not likely to cause a collision such as happened to Kerri's son over the weekend. Although deer are my favorite animal they do cause problems at times. I am glad that her son escaped the encounter without injury!

Whitetail Doe aged 1 year 7 months

Deer in this area's main concerns are avoiding predators, poachers, trespassers, and road hunters.

When I see them this close I often watch their expressions and wonder what they are thinking about.