Deer give birth to fawns anywhere
between April and July. The majority of
fawns are born in June.
Newborn fawns tend to be a bit wobbly
and uncertain of themselves. Until the fawns are strong enough to make daily
rounds, their mothers will find a place to hide their fawns while they go off
to forage for something to eat. A doe
may leave her fawn alone for the entire day.
Part of this is a strategy to avoid bringing attention to the fawn.
It is not uncommon for the doe to wait
until dusk before returning to fetch her little one.
Sometimes, a fawn will be hiding in
plain sight.
Such was the case a couple days ago at
the house in Akron, Ohio, where that girl’s daughter lives. A doe plunked her newborn down at the center
of a flower bed immediately below one of the dining room windows.
That girl sent me a few photographs
she captured with her smartphone.
The fawn remained in the flower bed
for the entire day. Happily, the fawn was
retrieved near full darkness that evening.
--Mitchell Hegman
What a cute fawn. Did it come out of the flower bed smelling of flowers?
ReplyDeleteHaha. That's interesting thing, actually. Fawns don't have a distinctive scent early on. This is helpful in their hiding.
ReplyDelete