Here’s that Pano of the back yard again (below). The grapevines in the middle are where the third “incident” with the fawns occurred. That photo, and my location for the “incident,” are via a tall slim living room window directly across from the vines. Next to it, the large picture window is one of those that was ruined by the heat, i.e. it’s all blurry. You can’t really look or film through it well. I was finally smart enough to take the screens out of the undamaged windows and create some clear, if smaller, views outside. That’s how this happened.
Below are two of the fawns at those grapevines. They’re between the vines and the house. It’s probably not even ten feet from the window to the vines. (There’s no hill there; the spot is totally flat despite how the left photo looks.) Time stamps on the pics say we spent and hour and a half together, and that’s about what I would have guessed. It felt long. And uniquely luxurious.
There’s a very large desk pushed up against the window I’m looking out, a couple people could sit around on top of it comfortably. I’ve got a lawn chair cushion up there and a freestanding “lap” table, I’m having morning coffee, reading, using my laptop and watching the fawns. They eat and eat and eat and then they rest after a little self-grooming.
I was quiet, sitting in the open window. They knew I was there, but I wasn’t really doing anything and that seemed to be enough to satisfy them. Depending on what they were doing, I could lean out the window for a photo without startling them. And because I was up above them, I think I was less a concern. Deer are primed for ground predators, not airborne ones. It was one of the most peaceful mornings I’ve ever spent.
This is that ruminant (multi-stomach) animal issue again. That “storage” tummy is packed with leaves and “twigs” and grapes. I assume an “initial digestion” stomach is doing a little chemical magic, after which, the fawns will bring their stash back up into their mouths to finish chewing it. Meantime, they’re gonna rest.
The pic above is interesting because of what it captures about deer and sleep. Deer sleep: I keep reading descriptions of it that sound more like drowsiness than actual sleep, with some folks claiming deer get as few as four daily hours of real “sleep.” I’ve also seen numerous comments about how “deer don’t sleep fully when… [fill in some resting activity].” It bears up from what I’ve seen. All of those places deer “don’t fully sleep,” I’ve seen them there not fully asleep, just drowsily resting.
The fawn pics above highlight the “drowsiness” quality of their sleep style. In the photo on the left above, that fawn is lightly drowsing. You can see it if you look at its eyes. I’d been watching it grow relaxed for awhile before taking the photo. The middle pic, if you look close, the fawn’s eyes are not closed all the way, but it is in absolute rest mode, body drowsing. (There’s a couple better pics of that coming up.) It’s the third photo that’s unique. And btw, it’s the same fawn in each pic. In that last pic above, the fawn finally just gave in and flopped onto its side. If you’ve ever seen a toddler fall asleep someplace funny and unplanned, it looked just like that, a slow and then sudden collapse. But I bet it didn’t even last a minute before it was back to that more protected, less visible little curled up ball pose. Drowsing, but not sleeping.
It makes sense deer need to stay alert. They can fight back against a predator, but they’re more likely to run if possible. And they’re agile, four-legged gymnasts. The pics above capture deer resting both very alertly and deer resting in “drowsiness.” The big left hand pic has one of each (note the open eye on the “sleeping” fawn). When I saw that drowsiness stage out the window, the animal was very still. Its eyes just never fully closed. Middle lower pic also has a fawn with its head partly down resting and eyes low but open, and its twin resting upright and alert. Best morning visitors ever.
Next post: Where We Are Now…
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