So I spend five weeks in June and July with Guinevere and her one fawn, and then six weeks in July and August with the older sister and her two fawns. But somewhere in the middle of the older doe’s visit, I suddenly wasn’t sure Guinevere was real. The thought startled me for a moment. Sort of like when I discovered she’d been watching me from a hole in a bush. What if Guinevere and the Auntie were one and the same? What if the Auntie had just managed to hide one fawn from me? Could that have happened? For five weeks? I hadn’t seen Guinevere and the fawn for three weeks. I’d expected them to pop through by now even if they didn’t stay around. Everything I’d experienced was a felt experience of two different does. Could I have totally misperceived things?
It can be hard to track individual deer just by appearance but there are perceivable differences between deer, and there were between Guinevere and the older doe: predominantly size, shape, and behavior. Behaviorally, Guinevere was skilled at everything I saw her do, but a little tentative. The Auntie was assertive and skilled. All the time. Guinevere was a slimmer deer. Her chest was smaller, her face seemed thinner and longer. The Auntie had quite a large chest and she had some distinct markings on one side of her face. I almost “named” her Tattoo because of them, but I assumed they would change as her seasonal coats changed. Photos help but aren’t a perfect record. My visceral experience of the deer adds significantly to what the photos I collected can show. Similar to how when you see someone you know from a distance you still recognize their form, you start to “vaguely” distinguish between different deer you see regularly. In any event, below are the best photo comparisons I could find to illustrate why I think I’m dealing with two different does.
And so I’d look at the photos, and think through encounters, and decide I’d absolutely been tracking two does and no way any doe could have “hidden” a fawn here for five weeks. But then I’d start to doubt things again. I mean, theoretically, it’s possible. But no. Yes?
And then.
Guinevere showed up briefly.
Twice.
She didn’t stay here, but she was on the property with a fawn. Visual differences from the Auntie were still clear, behavior fit what I’d expect. I didn’t have my phone either time, but I noted the dates in my head to anchor the observation. I couldn’t tell you the exact dates now, but they were two weeks apart. “Guinevere” comes from older Celtic names that mean things like ghostly being, and while I do at the moment lean toward the evidence that Guinevere exists and is not the Auntie, I can’t see that she exists right now, so she’s also a bit of a ghost. And that’s why I used the name.
Oh, and on August 29th? Pi returns. With two fawns again. Holy moly.
Next post: The O.G. Returns
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