I have seen countless deer eating grass and shrubs along the streets while walking, running or driving around. And here in my neighborhood, various deer will wander through, but we have a doe/fawn pair that are regulars. The pair are around at least a few days each week, and sometimes bring others.
They take advantage of the variety of vegetation in the gardens and yards on the block, particularly my little yard and the garden next to me. The garden grows lots of different vegetables and has plenty of leafy weeds growing around the edges. The grass in front of my place is some drought-resistant blend and is always green and full. Bonus: there are grape vines growing along the fence between my yard and the garden too.
If around in the middle of the day, they will lay in the shade provided by my house or the tall plants. Sometimes the mother doe will venture off and the fawn will just hang out in the garden. More than once I have opened the front door with one about six feet away munching on grapes, to both my and the deer's surprise. They are comfortable but weary if I stay on the little porch, and will move away if I go down the steps.
The photo is of the mother doe in the weeds of the garden. Sorry for the backlight, she wouldn't cooperate and stayed in the shade.
If the deer are the calm resident grazers, then the racoons are the rowdy party-crashing scavengers. These big guys, working in teams of two to four, arrive after sundown and forage through the compost, trash, and recycling bins that line the alley I live on. Watching them is quite interesting, because they are surprisingly dexterous in opening the heavy lids.
They are not courteous when it comes to noise though. Usually the lid slips and slams back down on the bin a few times before they get it. (It honestly sounds like someone is knocking on my door when this happens.) But the real racket happens when one gets stuck in a bin or tangles with a neighborhood cat! A raccoon screaming in the middle of the night sounds like a freaking exorcism. Usually, if one can't get out of a bin, the others will open the lid for it. Again, it can be pretty neat to watch these guys.
Coyotes are a rare sight in town, and generally just trot through the alley.
It'll be interesting to see how these sightings change as winter approaches. I have noticed that the raccoons are more likely to come by during a full moon (which is helpful because the streetlight doesn't stay on steadily). I'm waiting for them to figure out the pickup schedule and only show up on Tuesday nights when the bins are at their fullest.
Our deer are also fairly tame and stick to about the same "human distance" as yours.
ReplyDeleteFriday night, I heard a rustling from the woods and, thinking it either an opossum or deer, I turned on the outside light...only to see a black bear. It was down by the trash cans (nearly a year to the day, the very cans were knocked over and their contents strewn through the woods) and I watched it walk, like a giant man on all fours, behind my car and down the parking lot. Seen any larger critters out there?
That's a bummer because in all likelihood that bear will soon become a "nuisance bear" and then a dead bear after getting hooked on human food.
ReplyDeleteNever seen anything bigger than the deer in town. In the mountains I see lots of elk (especially in Rocky Mountain Natl Park) and hope to get some good photos of them with their rut coming up. I also see bighorn sheep fairly frequently. No bear or mountain lion sightings though.
Hard to tell with the Racquet Club bear. There's so much development around his home that the temptation of human food is prevalent, but there's still a lot of woods full of bear food...and he did just kind of mosey on through without causing a ruckus, so who knows?
ReplyDeleteHopefully he sticks to berries and grubs and resists all that delicious garbage.
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