Backyard Bambi

This little fawn was born in our backyard last Spring. We have been watching him grow up since then and it has been amazing. The picture of him laying in the grass is how we first spotted him -- barely visible, his eyes still closed. His mother had left him in the tall grass for protection and it's a great scheme -- you can totally understand why fawns are born with those cute spots -- he literally blends right into the forest floor. The next picture shows his first steps after Mom came back and reached up to nurse. Since then, we have seen him learn to walk, run and bound through the woods. Did you know that happy deer actually bounce -- lifting all four hooves off the ground at once? Amazing to see. A few months later, the spots began to fade. A few months after that, he started to grow antlers. By the end of this Spring (so any day now?) I suspect he will be ready to sire a fawn of his own. Truly incredible to watch all of that from our back window -- out of the corner of my eye while supervising Tinker Toy clean-up and trying to listen to Countdown.