This lone deer that sometimes visits looks terribly hungry.
We can see her bones…
Despite the severe cold this past winder, due to the unstable polar vortex, none of the deer we have had visit our feeding station looked to be going hungry, except this one. It may be due to illness or parasites, too.
This photo was taken the day after the storm blew in, at the beginning of April. As you can see, the snow was already melting away!
Which meant it was easier for our little buck here to find some tasty feed!
This photo was taken on April 4, after the storm had passed. The feed left for the deer was covered, but they could still find it!
With these two, the young male comes right in, while his mother hangs back, watchfully, before joining him. This day, it meant he had time to find one of the piles of deer feed already, and she just pushed her way right in there!
I leave about 6 or 8 piles, but they hadn’t found the other ones, yet. :-D
The last couple of days have been very windy. I’d hoped to start cleaning up the fallen twigs and branches around the yard by now, but we’re not quite there, yet.
While putting out feed for the birds and deer, I thought I would do one thing, though. There is a bird house on a post outside our dining room window that has a tree growing next to it. The tree has a couple of trunks growing out of its base, one of which is growing against the post, pushing it aside. I figured this would be a good time to try and shift the one trunk to the other side of the post. This way, it might start pushing the post straight again.
That didn’t quite work.
It broke off completely.
As you can see from the stump, this is not the first time it has broken! Though the tree only put out 2 or 3 cherries – the only reason we figured out what the tree was – it was in full leaf and seemed to be strong and healthy, so it was a bit of a surprise to see how dry and half-rotted the base turned out to be. It makes me wonder about the one part that’s still there.
We shall see how it does, this year.
Before heading out to see my husband in the hospital, we had a new visitor.
Continue readingAh, spring is in the air!
Here is some video I found while checking the trail cam this morning.
Pay close attention to the background.
The young deer back there are just full of bounce and energy!!
We are also looking ahead to more bouncing babies.
Butterscotch is getting big, and it’s not just gaining weight from having a reliable food source, anymore! She’s getting quite rolly polly in the middle. Should be interesting to see how big of a litter she has!
I’m pretty sure that Beep Beep is pregnant. She, too, has put on weight just from having reliable access to food, so it may be just that, but … well … it’s that time of year!
The last while, it has been Beep Beep that has been following me when I do my rounds and wanting to be picked up. Butterscotch still wants up and attention, but I think it’s starting to get uncomfortable for her to be picked up, no matter how gentle I try to be. Beep Beep is taking advantage of this, it seems. She will just loll about in my arms, then give me chin kisses.
Such sweet kitties!
The Re-Farmer
We were able to get a whole bunch of photos of the piebald deer that started visiting us last year.
She tends to show up with several other deer.
The day these were taken, there were 6 deer, altogether.
Yes!!! I got a tongue blep! :-D
She is such a beauty!
Though she shows up with a herd, we have been able to identify the deer with her here as her offspring.
From what I can tell, the group is three does with their offspring. Whether they are a herd, or if they just happen to show up for some free food at the same time, I am not sure.
It would be awesome if she became one of our regular visitors!
Another shot of the strange deer with the distinctive eyebrows, captured by my daughter, early in March.
The Re-Farmer 