Foxy Lady & my deer friends
I got back to New Jersey (NJ) a couple of weeks ago.The first few days I was busy unloading the car and unpacking.
After that, there was a stormy time. We got rain and/or clouds for several days.
But, once it was sunny, or mostly sunny, I ventured out to a couple of places
for wildlife photos.
There is a place near Princeton, where there is a bald eagle nest.
And sure enough, momma eagle was in the nest when I visited.
She was arranging her livingroom, making sure all the sticks were placed just so
to prevent any little ones from falling out. I got some nice photos of her and the nest.
After I left there, I headed where there is a place, that a deer family has pretty much accepted me as part of their herd. The matriarch over time has come to realize, that I mean them no harm.
So if my presence is OK with her, the rest of the herd is OK with it too.
It allows me to take some nice close-ups of the herd members, including when there are fawns (not yet).
There's actually another herd in Princeton where another matriarch has also accepted me.
But, I saw neither hide nor tail of them the other day.
Since I've gotten back to NJ, I've actually visited with the herd I mentioned first above, twice.
They have a smaller range than the southern herd, so I can find them easier.
Both times on the way to them, I saw a female red fox. She's beautiful !
Black legs with a bright red body. But, both times she saw me , before I saw her, and when I did notice her, she was racing at top speed, away from me deeper into the woods.
This second time, however, I noticed 2 kits (baby foxes), who retreated into a ravine, as mom ran off.
So, I ventured into that area and found their den.
I got some nice shots of the 2 very cautious, but curious kits sticking their head out to see if I was still there.
I then realized what the momma fox was trying to do. She wanted me to chase her (I never would have caught her), rather than go near her kits. Very foxy lady ! Literally, smart AS a fox.
Comments (9)
My band was playing at a party Saturday so we were unable to attend both dates. That video came from his performance Saturday. It rained most of the day Sunday and we were only able to see a few groups perform. By late afternoon, it was raining so hard the concert was cancelled. Hendrix didn't perform that night and sadly, I lost the chance to see him perform live.
Cindy D'lequez Sage - The Moons Lament (The Lovely Bones Soundtrack)
The Moons Lament
Hear my friends, my wolves pledge allegiance to my silver soul,
Take the time, take the time to understand your foe.
I don't want your food, I don't want your cups,
I just want your love.
Yeah, feasting with panthers is alright for some,
But me I'm a planet and I still need some fun,
Yeah, I still need some fun.
Behind the floods and weeping queens we lay,
Who know no dreams would eat my schemes away,
Through corpse, through sea, round pools of light,
Round pools of light.
Yeah, feasting with panthers is alright for some,
But me I'm a planet and I still need some fun,
Yeah, I still need some fun.
All my friends are mirrors and all mirrors my friends,
In the olive grove so fair, failed eyes I whisper,
I don't want your food, I don't want your cups
I just want your love.
Yeah, feasting with panthers is alright for some,
But me I'm a planet and I still need some fun,
Yeah, I still need some fun.
But, we can to this day.....on Youtube.
M - I will probably post those kit photos on here much later. Right now they are still on a memory card in the camera. However, I still have lots of nature photos to show from my Florida trip this winter.
B - You are welcome. I don't see any eagle chicks this year yet here in NJ.
However, in Florida I got 4 distant shots of a juvenile eagle in flight being chased by an adult osprey in flight on a cloudy day, very close to where I stay.
Due to the much warmer winter weather, the breeding cycle probably starts a lot sooner than up north.
Indeed, some of the osprey had already fledged before I left.
with acknowledgement to Blue the bumper
And like us, they have a lot of variability within the population.
We all grow a little more comfortable with someone we
become familiar with over time, if that being does not
make attempts to harm us, or violate what we consider our
personal space. With time & experience with that being,
what we consider a violation of personal space can shrink
and what we each may consider odd behavior can also become more acceptable to us....and them.
I had 2 notable experiences last year with whitetail deer.
With the 'northern herd' I mentioned above I was about 20 feet from a doe.
That doe was so comfortable with me being there, that she plopped down in the grass.
I took that as a compliment and wanted to return the gesture.
So, I plopped down where I was. The doe was fine with that.
However, the matriarch was not. Apparently, she was OK with the doe plopping down,
she was OK with me being 20 feet from the doe after the doe plopped down.
But, she let out a snort, after I plopped down. That snort is her warning to the doe.
The doe ignored that snort. She snorted again. The doe ignored the second snort.
The matriarch walked over 25 feet from me and 5 feet from the doe and stomped her foot
and snorted again. With that the doe stood up and followed the matriarch into the woods.
With deer the matriarch is the boss of the herd.
I'm not 100% sure what to make of the matriarch's behavior on that day.
Obviously, I am much more capable of being harmful to the doe standing up, than lying down.
But, the matriarch interpreted my lying down as more odd than the doe lying down.
I also noticed my lying down being somewhat odd by a different Princeton herd, at a distance,
when no deer was lying down.
I wanted to test it out with a different unfamiliar herd in a different situation and that herd was not accepting of it.
So, perhaps it's just interpreted as odd behavior for a human to lie down. I'm not sure.
The other notable experience last year was a doe in a familiar Princeton herd, who had 2 young fawn came walking up to me within 5 feet of me. She did this while I was standing 30 yards from the rest of the herd, taking pictures of them. She was so close, that I couldn't even take pictures of her with the minimum focus distance for the large lens I use.
She was so quiet (deer usually are), that I didn't even know she was there, until I lowered my camera.
Her 2 fawn stood about 25 feet south from me with amazed looks on their faces. But the doe
felt that comfortable with me being there. She was familiar with me from previous years.
She stayed for a while, eating raspberries from bushes near me and then walked off with her fawns
to join the rest of the herd. Mutual respect. I let them get close to me, if they want to. But, I don't make moves to get significantly closer. I keep a respectful distance. But that minimum acceptable distance decreases over time and experiences with me at their leisure & determination.
With birds they will often get so close, that I have to back up to maintain them in focus ~ 5 feet.
I see them stop doing what they are doing to notice this when I do so, and believe that perhaps they may think that I back up because I am afraid of them, which probably makes them less afraid of me,
as they go back to their business of hunting for food. It probably makes them more acceptable of my
presence on other days.
Deer are so sensitive, that if I back up, or act surprised, they back up. My backing up or surprise, somehow seems to violate the mutual trust we've earned over time,
or they don't want to violate my personal space.
That's why I didn't back up to get the doe in focus in the story above. Instead, I took pictures of her fawn while she ate raspberries.