Foxy, Bambi, and Thumper

A little over two weeks ago I spotted a blob of fur in our backyard.  I wasn't sure what it was, but thought it might be a fox. I wondered if it was injured or dead since it wasn't moving.  I then called the kids over to point it out to them.  Karina went down the deck stairs first and started approaching the fox.  I got a photo when she was still pretty far away.  She ended up getting within 10 feet of it before the fox woke up and quickly ran away, jumping over the fence.  Lydia and Derek got pretty close too.

Since then, 'Foxy' (as we have come to call it) has napped in our yard nearly every day.  Usually from 2pm-5pm he/she is in the corner napping, though sometimes he/she comes in the morning instead.  Sometimes we watch it with binoculars from the dining room, but we don't approach it.  It is fun to see it yawn and show off its sharp teeth, switch positions and curl into a ball, or stretch out on its back or stomach or side.  Sometimes if it is hot, it moves to the shade or if it is cool, is moves into the sun.  Foxy has become a fixture of our backyard over the past weeks.  

Yesterday morning, when Karina was going to walk to the bus stop, she told me there was a baby deer by the front door.  I walked out with her and sure enough, a very tiny newborn deer, probably no more than 10 pounds, was nestled in my begonias!  The mother was nowhere in sight.  The adorable baby saw us and tracked us with his/her eyes, and would twitch its ears a little, but otherwise remained perfectly still.  

I already knew from neighborhood forums that mother deer leave their babies alone during the day to forage and will come back for them at night.  Somehow little baby deer know to keep silent and not move from the spot their mother puts them.  We were very worried because Foxy is in our backyard so often, and little Bambi, as we came to call the baby, was in our front yard.  

The kids loved having Bambi right by our front door!

I kept checking on Bambi throughout the day.  At 11:15am, I checked the backyard and Foxy was taking a nap under the tree, and Bambi was still napping in the flowers in the front yard.   

Nate had not seen the baby deer on the way to work and on the way home didn't see it either.  The deer blended in well if you didn't know what you were looking for.  I am impressed Karina spotted it!  By that evening at 10pm, the mother deer still had not come for it.  However by morning, the baby deer was gone!  We assume the mom moved it to another spot.  All that is left is an indentation in the mulch where is lay so quietly throughout the day, patiently waiting for its mother.   We hope the mother found a better spot to hide her baby, away from foxes!

In all my trips outside yesterday to check on Bambi, I noticed a very determined rabbit by our light post.  I thought it was just eating clover.  This morning, when I saw it out the office window, I noticed the rabbit was actually digging, not eating.  I took this photo on my way to the bus stop of an impressive burrow (tunnel?) the rabbit had dug.  It didn't seem like a great spot to me since it is out in the open and not hidden under a bush, if that is where the mother rabbit wants to put her babies.

A few hours later and all evidence of the hole had disappeared!  The rabbit did an excellent job cleaning up its mess and there is no way to know the hole is there with even a close visual examination.   I poked the spot where I thought the hole had been with a stick, and the burrow was still there, just very carefully camouflaged!.  I am excited to monitor the spot and see if that will be a burrow for baby rabbits.  Nate is going to need to be careful mowing the lawn.

As the kids pointed out, we have a fox living in the back yard, a baby deer in the front yard, rabbits on the side of the house (and now the front too!) and squirrels and birds in the trees - we have a miniature wildlife refuge in our yard.  It also made us realize that most animals stayed away when Snoopy was alive.  Now our joke is how ferocious Snoopy was scaring away the wildlife. :-)