Frightening Fawns…..

Fenway and I don't mean to do it…..but some days it just happens.

We have a small "herd" of deer living near us. We see them along the bike path, in the park across the street, on the hill up toward the lighthouse. It's easier to see them in the winter, now that the trees and undergrowth are in full green they can easily hide in plain sight. But still…. once in awhile we catch a glimpse.

Last year there were two bucks and maybe four adult females and a couple of yearlings. This summer we've spotted two fawns… still young enough to show the lovely white spots on their coats. Deer behavior seems to be that mom leaves the young one hiding in a safe place while she goes off to browse and then returns to nurse.

About two weeks ago Fenway and I went for an afternoon walk along the bike path. We stopped just past our condo building to talk to a couple sitting on a bench. I was standing on the grass next to the bike path, Fenway standing on the pavement quietly sniffing the breeze. Suddenly, after about five minutes, there was a crash as a very small fawn jumped out of the bushes next to us….. jumped over an astonished Fenway and wobbling a bit, ran up the bikepath and out of site. We all sat there with mouths hanging open.

I think the baby was hiding in her safe place, but it was much too close to us, and it finally got spooked by our conversation and ran.

Yesterday, late afternoon, Fenway and I were walking back to the condo. Listening to the birds, enjoying a beautiful day. Suddenly ten feet ahead of us a fawn came out of the woods and started to walk towards us before noticing that we were even there. We stopped, I held Fen's leash tight as we watched the little one sort of "panic". It walked a few paces left, a few paces right, a few paces toward us as if not knowing just where to go to disappear. Then it moved into the trees and down the hill toward the stream. A close encounter!  We continued our walk and a few paces later there was a second fawn…. coming at us in the middle of the path. Same routine, same result.

Two fawns and a beautiful goldfinch on one walk. We love this place. And we don't mean to frighten the fawns…. but some days it just happens.