Finally, Deer in the Daylight!

In my December 9th post I told you about deer visiting the yard late one afternoon. I was disappointed that I wasn't able to get a decent photo due to the early sunset that left us almost in twilight. Dave installed a sensor with a bell that would ring in the house to alert us if the deer returned to the back yard.

I thought I would surely get an opportunity to take a good photo. But the days were still growing shorter. The deer would arrive at dusk, midnight, and before dawn. Usually, there were three: two larger ones and a small one. Using the nighttime binoculars, we watched the three. Occasionaly, there would be more. We never saw a "herd" because they visited late at night and in the wee hours of the morning. It could be that a couple of small groups visit throughout the night. Sometimes there are tracks coming from the driveway as well as from the woods. The high number of tracks leave no doubt that there were many more than our regular three!



Yesterday afternoon, my grandson, Zach, was in his room doing homework. Suddenly, he came running down the hallway shouting to us to go to the kitchen window - there were six deer in the woods heading towards the pond. (Since he placed his desk facing a wall, how he saw the deer while doing his homework is a mystery for another day. LOL) My son, Kevin, was here at the time, as was Keely. We all watched three of the deer walk to the far side of the pond and cross it; the other three remained in the woods. It didn't take the three long to find the deer feed buried by the new snowfall the night before. Finally, I got some fairly decent photos of the deer!

While I'm very happy with my photos,which are still a bit dark, if you want to see some excellent photos of deer, visit Renie Burghardt's World In addition to the deer in the side bar, scroll down to see the delightful photo of a deer "scratching an itch"!

Hello, Again!

The flu has kept me out of commission for a while. Both Dave and I had it, but we are much better now! I wanted to post to let you know I'm still around and will get caught up in the next few days. I've missed visiting here with my friends. :-)

The deer have been dining here almost every night. Unfortunately, they arrive after dark, sometimes not until midnight. Dave rigged up a motion detector to alert us to their presence. All the snow on the ground provides just enough light so that we can see them through the back window with the night binoculars. It's a treat to see them. There are two does with a little one and a solitary doe that are regulars. I wish they would arrive earlier so I could get some photos! Maybe as the days get longer they will - I hope.

As usual, the story here is the weather. We had a week of spring-like weather. Temps reached 60 degrees one day and upper fifties other days. There were two days of rain, a thunderstorm in Nashua, and lots of melting snow. The sump pump was worked hard. Despite all that, we still have a snow cover. Weather forecasters are predicting 6 to 12 inches of snow for tomorrow. I guess the silver lining to this is that all that snow makes it easier to see the deer. On the down side, if this keeps up schoolchildren will have a lot days to make up at the end of the year.

The photo above gives you an idea of all the layers of snow we've had. It would snow, then we would get freezing rain or sleet, which would freeze over so that the next snowstorm formed a new layer. Here you can see a sheet of the layers sliding off the old woodshed roof. The thin layer of ice held it together until it actually touched the ground and finally broke loose from the roof!

I hope you are all well. See you soon at your blogs. :-)

Most Welcome Backyard Visitors

Wednesday, my grandaughter Keely called to me and my grandson Zach in a hushed sort of voice. I went out to the kitchen and she was standing like a statue by the window that looks out on the back yard. She whispered for us to slowly come to the window. There in the backyard were two deer. One was very large, the other smaller. They were eating some of the branches on a pine tree. I took a picture of the smaller one but it didn't come out very well. The screen was still in the closed window, so it made for a blurred photo.



The deer actually seemed so much larger than those we usually see. I think that is due to the fact that we only see them in the late spring and summer. On those rare occasions when they come to the back yard, they are usually partially hidden by foliage. They don't stay long. Usually we spot them across the street at the far side of the baseball field. Again, they don't linger.

Wednesday was different. We watched them for a good 10 minutes. They wandered from the far side of the pond to the other end of the house. Slowly we made our way to the bedroom facing the woodsy area at that end of the house. It was dusk and snowing, but we had no problem watching them. They were beautiful. Finally they made their way to the woods across the street. I managed to get one picture in which, if you look carelfully, you can see them. The sky had darkened by this time and it is reflected in the photo.



Dave told a co-worker about our adventure. He suggested a feed that we could put out to attract the deer back to the yard. Dave bought it. It smells good enough to eat. It looks similar to granola. Dave had put some out Friday, Saturday and today. There are all kinds of deer tracks in the area. Each morning when he checks, all the feed is gone!

Today he put a motion sensor out there that beeps softly in the house whenever disturbed. Hopefully, we will get to see them again and get some good photos. (Yes, we took the screen out - finally. LOL).

Zach, Keely and I were enthralled watching them. They are so beautiful. It was a wonderful experience for us to share. With a little luck, we will have more opportunities to see these beautiful and most welcome backyard visitors!

Animal Personality Test

Your Animal Personality

Your Power Animal: Deer Animal You Were in a Past Life: Panda You are a fun-seeker - an adventurous, risk-taker. While you are spontaneous, you are not very rational.

The Animal Personality Test

Thank you for this fun test, Michele!