Saturday, July 26, 2008

Twins!

High: 81° F
Low: 60° F
Conditions: Partly cloudy this afternoon with a chance of thunderstorms developing this evening.
The caninaturalist first spied the two fawns this morning. Usually, Mouse and Leila Tov lay claim to the open kitchen window, but today the sisters were too busy sunbathing in my office. That was good news for me and Ari, when a slowly moving blur of red caught our attention.



The two paused just long enough to browse in my overgrown flower garden before disappearing back into the woods. We’re guessing that these fawns are about two months old. We didn’t see Mom, but given their young age, she must have been nearby.

Even Ari, who doesn’t think twice about yodeling at most deer in our yard, seemed to understand that these two kids needed a little extra consideration, so she stood quietly by my side and behind the window screen. We stood as still as we could so that the fawns wouldn't see us. That means our pictures turned our pretty blurry, but at least we didn’t startle the fawns.

The summer Greg and I moved into this house, we watched a pair of fawns grow up together.

That was five years ago, and we’ve had several summers marked by twins. This is not an uncommon occurrence among white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)—in fact, nearly 50% of all spring deliveries result in the birth of two fawns. Still, we can’t help but wonder if these twins have some older siblings roaming these woods. Life expectancies for white-tailed deer can be as high as 16 years, but more normal ranges are about 4-8 years, due largely to hunting pressures. That means these generations might all share the same mom, if she's clever enough to evade hunters.

That’s an appealing idea, and one that we’ll mull over as we wait for them to wander across our yard again soon.

20 comments:

The Army of Four said...

Oh, they're bee-roo-tiful! We have deer here, but they don't come up to the house as much as they used to. Mom and Dad love to see them; we love to silently stare at them!
Love,
Ammy
PS: That WAS a cool thunderhead, wasn't it? Fortunately the storms (small 's') stayed south of us! We were under a tornado watch anyway.

Eve said...

Hopefully Lowly Worm wont drive off in the Honda and catch one out on the road!!

Seriously I'm sure they will learn well from mom!

Teddy Westlife said...

We never get cool stuff like that in our yard. Only poo-face Salvador and he doesn't count.

Huffle Mawson, Honorary Husky and Explorer Cat

Lorenza said...

Those deers are beautiful!
The only creatures we see outside our window are black birds trying to get cockroaches for breakfast!
I hope you are having a great weekend!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

Maverick the Pirate said...

Harrrrrr Ari
I have given you an award on me blog Harrrr
Cap'n Maverick the Pirate

Steve, Kat, & Wilbur said...

Ari, I don't think I could have been quiet around those twins. Good self restraint.

Kat

Kyanite said...

Arhh!
How fortunate you are to have such lovely wildlife on your doorstep.

Enjoy your weekend!
Best wishes, pats & pets
Blue

Gus, Louie and Callie said...

That is way too cool.. We never see deer where we live. We are from Wisconsin where the white-tail are abundant.. They are so beautiful to watch...

Big Sloppy Kisses
Gus, Louie and Callie

Naturegirl said...

Kathryn what a treat to see these twins in your own garden space! I watched a video on U TUBE of twin fawns playing in the sprinkler in a yard they happened upon..while their mom looked on with such watchful eyes.
Speaking of eyes I posted my fur babies mysterious eyes..Hi Ari..you have such haunting soulful eyes!!
SMACK and PETS.good boy..NG

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

The Bambi twins are furry khute!

Mom knows where to look for the ones pinched in our neighbourhoods - in fakht, last night when she left to go spend time with a friend, she saw them!! They are not fawns anymore but they still make her go 'aaaaaahhhhh!' -

Nice of woo to give 'em some room to grow -

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra

Jans Funny Farm said...

Oh, how neat to see fawns in your own back yard.

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

They're beautiful! I never see deer in my yard here, but used to at the house where I used to live. I miss seeing them. I've been catching up a bit here tonight. I loved your snake story in the previous post and the pictures. Wow!

Unknown said...

Lucky dog! The only way I get to see deer is on television. Maybe that's a good thing as I tend to get anxious when large animals are around.

Southbaygirl said...

Ari-I can't believe you were so quiet watching the twins! I'm very impressed. i might have barked!!

Velcro

John Theberge said...

Wow, lucky to get photos of these two guys and in the yard no less. I took a motorcycle ride up north a couple of weeks ago and saw no wildlife.

umekotyan said...

Good evening Ari.
Twin is lovely.
Deer's range of living and longevity have extended because of Global warming. It is related to wild animals, Global warming, and our life.

from loved ume tyan

Kodak the Eskie said...

What beautiful pictures of the fawns! I would have loved to see them in person!

Hugs, Kodak

goatgirl said...

What a treat to see!

JB's Big and Small Worlds said...

Wonderful fawns. And it is so great that Ari was so smart to know that she should be very quiet and observe.
--JB

Marigold said...

We spotted two fawns too...except ours are a little bigger (no spots now). We all snorted and ran in the barn.