Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Then A Deer Walked By

Well, would you look what I found! I was out at the edge of the meadow minding my own business taking more pictures of bees when I heard a strange noise on the other side of the meadow. When I looked up from the tall weeds in front of me I saw this deer walking past.

It didn't know I was there because these weeds between us were almost as tall as me. I lifted my camera to take pictures when I remembered that I could also do video. The video was the clear winner because the video quality is almost as good as the pictures anyway, and screenshots are easy to do.

So all of the pictures you see here are from the video below. I did have to fix them slightly to make them a little clearer, but they're still okay. And the pictures are here just in case you either don't want to see the video or you can't. The video is great though.


So we have a new episode of Rat TV! I watched from behind the tall weeds as this deer walked the length of the meadow. It stopped and looked in my direction a few times, but it was having trouble seeing me where I was standing. It knew there was something there, but it didn't quite know what. You can see the fear and confusion in its face as it walks past.

When I had to walk a little ways to catch up I lost the deer for a few seconds. The weeds were just too tall to see it in some places. I was also making a little too much noise because there were a few dead leaves on the ground that were unavoidable. The deer heard me, but it couldn't see me.

The deer was looking right at me when I found it again. I was still well hidden, but it knew I was there. The deer was reasonably sure that I wouldn't be a threat because the tall weeds were like a barrier between us, so it never moved any quicker than a walk. I then watched as it walked into the forest and was gone.

If you have ever seen deer very much, you can see a bit of worry in her face here. She was trying to keep an eye on me but still get where she was going. She couldn't resist looking over at me a few times to try to see where I was.

She knew right where she was going though. The forest she entered is where her and a few others live. They have a good hiding place in there on the other side of the treeline. This meadow is their home, and I find them here very often.

I threw in this last picture as a bonus. If you look closely you can see that her tongue is out. She is licking her lips in nervousness. She knows that she might be in danger, but she has to make it all the way home. I did my best not to scare her, but she was wise to think any other big creature was a threat.

Watch the way she flicks her tail in the video after every time she looks at me. You'll see it just after she turns away. That is a sign of her fear. She knows I am there, but she is trying to keep from panicking. I've had all sorts of reactions from deer, from a panicky run to aggression, and everything in between. I've even had a few try to be my friends. This was just another average, but fun encounter with a white-tailed deer.


Nature Center Magazine - It's time for another Nature Site Of The Week. This week's site is very special to me, WiseAcre Gardens. WiseAcre was my very first friend here in the blogging world. He came over and helped me out when I didn't know what to do yet. I have always been very grateful to him for that. And he has one of the most entertaining blogs I have ever seen. His blog is one you will definitely want to see.

17 comments:

  1. Whenever I see your deer, I link them to my monkeys.

    You have them in your forest, I have mine at Cerok Tokun.

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  2. Hi Ratty, great post today. That deer is beautiful. I don't get to see too many deer. I do love the way they are so ghostlike when they slip back out of view, into a hedgerow or similar.
    The video was great, she looks like she hears something else towards the end, she has a quick sharp look to the left then just disappears. Great video indeed! (hey, and thanks for featuring my video of the hedgehog on Nature Center Magazine- I do appreciate that)

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  3. The deer looks healthy and it's nice to see at this time of the year..I like your video too!

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  4. This was such an excellent post and a video to go with it. She seems like a pretty large deer. Perhaps she has some little ones waiting for her in the woods and needed to get home to them.

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  5. Oh, how neat!! We have black-tailed deer where we live. My son saw a mama and her little one the other day when we were on a nature walk. I'm going to show him your video; I think he'll be really impressed!

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  6. Does lick their noses to make them wet, this allows the olfactory sensory organs to work better (moisture is a better transmitter of odor than dry air), so the doe is licking her nose to locate you and other potential danger better.

    Bill:www.wildramblings.com

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  7. Have you ever been there when a deer walks by?
    It makes you feel like you want to spy.

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  8. They are always dear to me. I think you forgot another thing when getting close, they have a powerful sense of smell, so direction of wind can make a difference.

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  9. They sure can be comical in their wariness. For animals with four sharp weapons, they are surprisingly quick to run away.

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  10. What a great distraction from your bees. She didn't seem too alarmed that you were there. I've seen them running when they are scared and boy are they fast.

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  11. Congrats on capturing the great video footage, I have only encountered a deer up close once in my life but as soon as it realized that their was humans close by, it was gone.

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  12. oh, beautiful experience as captured by your pictures and videos, wish I have a video cam too, well, hopefully, sometime soon :)

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  13. Those still captures from the video are very nice! There are urban deer living near us - my human has seen them but I have not.

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  14. Excellent video footage you got there. That is the beauty of having a video cam you got it all covered. Thank you for sharing it with us.

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  15. Great shots and video Ratty!! I always love it when I catch an animal with it's tongue out..Ha!

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  16. Ratty, what beautiful animals they are. I loved the video as well. She seemed so peaceful and laid back. Great post.

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  17. And I thought it was wagging its tail to say 'hi!' to you. =D Really cool video Ratty!

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