Oh Deer!

We have several apple trees in our yard and there was a bumper crop of apples this year, so many that we couldn't give them away much less use them all. Surprisingly a lot have hung onto the tree well into winter and the local deer find them attractive. We've had anywhere from two to eight deer at a time feeding under our trees for the last several days. It's fine with me. I won't have to clean the dropped apples out of the lawn come spring. I don't consider myself to be a wildlife photographer but these deer are making it look as if I know what I am doing. In reality what I am doing is shaking the tree to get apples to drop and then when the deer come around I park myself in an upstairs bedroom window that overlooks the yard and snapping photos with my Canon SX50 HS. Today seven deer came around just before sunset.

They are fun to watch. They usually come in pairs, a doe and a smaller one, probably a yearling fawn. Sometimes a fawn gets a bit too frisky and the older deer nips the fawn on the hind quarters. I don't think they can see me in the window but they seem to sense that they are being watched and frequently go on alert like the young one above. Sometimes one seems to be looking right at me. On the other hand cars can go by and they don't get spooked enough to run away.

Occasionally one of the older ones will decide to pick an apple that is still on the tree by rearing up on their hind legs to reach it. That's a bit tricky to catch because it happens so quickly. I have to anticipate it, be already focused and aimed when it happens.

The nature show in our yard is turning a winter that started off rather unpleasantly into a much more enjoyable season.

As always I hope you enjoy the photos and if you want to share them please share the URL of this page. Do not re-post without permission.