Thursday, March 28, 2024
backyardbackyard wildlife habitatwildlife

Daily Photo: An Unexpected Visitor

A buck sleeping in my back yard.
Today’s visitor.

Some people may be laughing very hard right now that I was surprised to find a deer in my back yard, considering they seem to be everywhere as we’ve taken over their habitat and they find our landscaping more than edible. But in the 25 years I’ve been here I’ve never even seen a deer in my neighborhood let alone in my yard. I’ve been kind of glad for my garden, though the groundhog does as much damage as a herd of deer. But I couldn’t even figure out how the deer got in my yard. It’s not entirely fenced, only on two sides, but there are brush piles and dense shrubs on the other sides so the back yard is pretty protected, and not easy for a deer to break into…unless he walked through the spot Mimi and I had walked through the other day.

I returned from errands today and prepared to step out to the back yard for a bit with Mimi—she had been waiting all day and was letting me know about that. I had my container of things for the compost and my cameras and just went to the sink to fill the watering can when I looked out the window and saw…

A buck sleeping in my back yard.
A buck sleeping in my back yard.

Of course I raced around with my cameras photographing out the windows and into the back yard with my zoom lens. I wasn’t interested in getting caught in my yard with a deer who might feel he was trapped. He didn’t pay me much attention, though, just layed around here and there, got up and had a snack on wild grape leaves and goldenrod stems, which is fine with me.

A buck sleeping in my back yard.
Standing up–he looks a little shaggy still.

It looks like he’s still shedding out his winter coat, and the velvet is still on his antlers, so he’s looking far and wide for food. At this point there is nothing actively growing in my garden. The early things are done and the weather was too wet and cold to work the soil so I decided to wait before planting again.

A buck sleeping in my back yard.
“I hear a human.”

Interestingly, while I was photographing at my garden gate, from where I got most of these photos, I heard a familiar avian voice and heard a humming, and turned to see a humming bird hovering near me. It left, then came back and perched on a branch in the lilac, but didn’t seem to be upset with me being there, if there was a nest near, for instance. They can be quite aggressive but this female just seemed to be spending time with me. I see them at the feeder in front, and soon the geraniums and scarlet runner beans will be blooming to their great delight.

The buck left the yard while I was inside for just a moment and I didn’t see how he’d gone. I went up the street to look into other backyards and talk to my neighbor who has cats and a dog and kids to see if they’d ever seen a deer in the yard or the neighborhood and they had not. We all went down to my yard so I could show the kids some cardinal nests in my spruce and give them some doggy goodies from Saturday, when another neighbor came up the street from a block away to show me a photo he’d taken of the deer in my back yard. Apparently it was the talk of some of the neighborhood this afternoon! He told me he’d seen them come down the alley from the top of the hill a few times, but today his father had told him, “That girl has a buck in her yard,” so he came up to photograph the buck. He’ll be sending it to me, and when I get it I’ll add it—it was a very nice photo, and I’m so glad he told me he’d seen the buck before.

The funny thing was Mimi and I spent some time in the woodland garden yesterday while I did a sketch and I was also headed out there with the sketch today to sit for a while and make sure it was done. We had a wonderful time yesterday and I just wonder if somehow Mimi and I attracted him here. I am posting the sketch for my daily sketch today, so you can read more about it.


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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

12 thoughts on “Daily Photo: An Unexpected Visitor

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  • guys…him iza Rudolph wanna be…ask him if he noez Santa 🙂 !!!!
    heeerz wo a gopher rockfish kinda week oh end, N be safe if ewe travel ♥♥

    Reply
    • Tabbies, purrrrhaps Santa is checking on us early! Likewise, be safe!

      Reply
  • Pingback: The Creative Cat - Daily Sketch: The Woodland Garden

  • Lovely post of a bit of good luck (considering no damage done to the garden). It looks exactly the kind of garden most animals would love to visit.

    Reply
    • Animalcouriers, my yard is a registered backyard wildlife habitat, and I consider it a success when the lone deer visits my back yard out of all the others! Got to keep an eye on the vegetable garden, though.

      Reply
  • Wow, that first picture is a great shot, Bernadette! I love when unexpected things happen like this…yesterday I was driving to the gym when I saw two deer in a field. I slowed down as I drove by (there was no one behind me on the road). One of the deer stopped and stared at my car as if to say, “Now what are you going to do?”

    Reply
  • bluemoonalone

    What a nice surprise..they come down from the hills beside my property sometimes..I think it is mostly when it is hot and dry out because there is a stream that runs through the lower end of my big lot..It’s nice to see them once in a while as long as they don’t start eating your veggies when they are growing..watch for deer ticks too as I believe they are the ones that carry Lime Disease..

    Reply
    • Bluemoonalone, in some places the drought is affecting them, others it’s development, and I think that’s what’s happening here. They developed the last of the green space at the top of the hill and it’s either run onto the interstate or come down here where there’s very little green except our back yards. I can work with my garden, and I just want to make sure Mimi is okay when we are out there–and me, since my yard is kind of closed in and I wouldn’t want him to feel trapped. And I meant to mention the risk of Lyme Disease! Need to get that for all of them.

      Reply

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