We had a couple of deer visit us this morning. This is the first time in a very long while. The city has a deer elimination program which is thinning the population way down so deer sightings are as rare as hens’ teeth.<\/p>\n
We saw two today, a doe and a buck. I think the buck was full grown but fairly young. Somewhere along the way he had the misfortune to have his left antler broken off about 6 inches up from his skull. The other antler was fairly small and only had two points. He was skitterish and stayed well away from the house.<\/p>\n
The doe was bigger. She was bolder and was right outside our kitchen window trying to lick up the few remaining sunflower seeds we put out for the squirrels. After a while she wandered off into the yard to relieve herself and this is the strange part. She clamped her ankles together and by ankles I mean the joints that are about 18 inches off the ground. Then she lowered her hips and started shuffling her rear feet backwards and forwards. She urinated on her ankles for a long time. Afterwards she licked herself clean, one ankle then the other. This went on a lot longer than the time it would actually take to clean herself off. Every aspect of this appeared to be deliberate, not just some careless accident.<\/p>\n
I can only think this is some sort of territorial marking behavior, but why would she mark herself? Do any of you know what was going on?<\/p>\n
I wish I had had my camera handy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We had a couple of deer visit us this morning. This is the first time in a very long while. The city has a deer elimination program which is thinning the population way down so deer sightings are as rare … Continue reading