Sunday, November 27, 2005

Deer





I was cutting through a park yesterday, a beautiful place filled with oak and nut trees and peaceful small meadows, when I noticed some deer grazing nearby.



Now deer are quite commonly seen where I live, but I still get a little thrill seeing wild animals unexpectedly.

Before I left for Africa, someone assured me that when I went on safari I would soon suffer from "animal fatigue", especially in regards to gazelles and other common hoofed mammals. She was sure I'd be yawning after I saw my twentieth wildebeest. I was fairly convinced that she was wrong. Indeed she was. After all, I still reach for my camera when I see little does grazing at home.



There were six deer in this little group, and they let me get quite close. In fact, getting them to raise their heads to look in the direction of my camera proved quite a chore, as I approached them clucking and chirping softly to get their attention.

They would flick their big brown eyes up at me for an instant, and then it was back to cropping the grass.

Gardeners around these parts are not so thrilled to have the deer visit them, as they are voracious and leave very few kinds of plants un-tasted. But as my mom reflects ( when her deer visit and eat the seed out of the bird-feeders and munch on her spring flowers),they are beautiful creatures and one can always plant daffodils, which luckily they snub their noses at.

10 comments:

blackcrag said...

Daffodils, eh? I’ll pass that along to my mother. This year for the first time, deer are jumping the fence and eating her rose bushes. Part of the problem I she put a flowerbed in front of the fence that leads to the beach.

A couple months back I went to catch the bus to work. As I turned to corner to the bus stop, I found three deer in a green space. They weren’t exactly concerned with my presence, but were a little shy, as they walked behind three nearby trees, out of my direct line of sight.

It was a great start to the day.

Grant said...

Deer. Yummy. I'm in the mood for anything not turkey.

Wriju said...

Spider girl I am so jealous of you right now! I live in such a concrete jungle that the only wild animals I spot are birds.

Mel said...

Awww I love seeing deer. They used to come into the back yard before we got the greyhounds and it was thrill every time to see them!

Josh said...

You get to see the neatest things right at your front door. It just looks so peaceful. Wish I could see dear near me.

Anonymous said...

Cool pictures of the deer, it is amazing when you can walk near something wild and snap pictures. I live in Arkansas and the only deer we really see are the ones running across the street/highway.

Skye said...

You're good with a camera. You didn't even frighten the deer.

Spider Girl said...

Thank you skyeblue2u! The deer were very obliging. :)

Weary Hag said...

You know ... having been born and raised in a big city, I still get a kick out of seeing cows grazing in a pasture. People around here get pissed off when I pull my car over for a better look just because there are cows, horses or deer grazing in an open field. I really do love creatures.

Anonymous said...

I love to see deer too! I didn't know that about daffodils either.