Take Your Breath Away

Truly, is there anything on the planet more beautiful than this?




Last June, we found a tiny fawn 'stashed' in the garden at Red Pine cottage.



This year, it's a week later, but we've got another treasured guest, just as tiny, curled up near the fleur-de-lis that line our driveway into the Resort.



How sharply crisp and clean are the white spots that afford this tiny creature camoflage. You have to have sharp eyes to spot the fawn, even just snuggled in the grass. It would be easy to just walk on past and never notice. Which is, of course, the whole idea of camoflage! The iris provide incredibly good cover, the little one looking more or less like old dead leaves heaped near the flower's base.

When the fawns are this tiny, they have no scent. When they lie immobile, making no noise, they are almost impossible for predators to spot. Once Mom tells them to Stay! they do just that, and can remain in place for up to 9 hours or even longer. Often well-meaning people stumble on one, and assume that it has been abandoned. Wild animals seldom abandon their young, but they do have strategies for survival. If you find a tiny fawn like this and mess about with it, then it will be left on its own.

The rule of the day is to just let them be. After all, would you interupt any baby taking a nap? The doe will come back and collect her baby. Yes, they can run, even at this tender age, but they don't have much stamina, so this ploy of leaving them resting and almost invisible is preferable to having them run with a herd. Of course, this time of year, the does aren't in a herd anyway -- they will be in small family groups now. It is in the winter time that deer will yard up into large herds. Having a delicate baby with you if you have to run away is a hindrance to the doe, and a risk to the baby. Leaving them motionless while the doe draws the threat away, that's a whole lot better option. So if you are privileged to find one of these most beautiful of wild babies, don't touch... don't fret... and don't get too close. Just take pictures, and Leave them Be.

Telephoto lens are a wonderful invention.