No pictues but thought I’d describe some interspecies communication from yesterday.
A male Ruffed Grouse was standing at the end of the sidewalk closest to the garage and greenhouse, all fluffed up. Other than the display of toughness, he was standing perfectly still.
We thought perhaps he was displaying to a hen, but sort of the wrong time of year for such behavior, and being frozen was also a bit unusual.
A fawn appeared, coming up from the far side of the greenhouse. And the fawn froze. Staring at the ruffed grouse, obviously concerned as to what this strange new creature could be.
With deer you can never tell if they’ve seen something before, or not. They are sort of like fairies, or cats, in this regard. They tend to forget things.
So now we had a staring contest which lasted for a few minutes. One fawn standing stock still, staring at a frozen Ruffed Grouse.
The world waited for the outcome.
Finally the fawn decided perhaps it was nothing to be concerned about, and his body language changed entirely. Now casual and unconcerned, the fawn ambled slowly towards the grouse, nonchalant. Obviously the fawn intended to investigate the grouse up close and personally, a good sniff all over, but was not telegraphing that intention, comfortable in his assumption the grouse hadn’t noticed a thing.
The frozen grouse maintained the same frozen aspect but you could feel the tension mounting.
Finally the fawn was level with the end of the sidewalk, and within five feet of the grouse.
The grouse exploded. Their wings are fairly loud. The fawn came unglued!! Dust and gravel flying in all directions, the fawn went west and the grouse went east; tail straight up the fawn dug in with all four feet and straight down the hill towards momma.
We can sympathize with the fawn, having been startled on numerous occasions by a frozen grouse we didn’t know was near us. It is adrenaline producing. 🙂
And now the poor momma wanted to know what the hell had scared junior so thoroughly. A doe will stomp her front feet and snort when alarmed about something, and this doe was no exception. She was stomping her feet and trying to figure it all out for some time. The grouse was long gone, and eventually she gave it up as something else she couldn’t understand.
We were laughing so hard and wishing for a video camera.
Hi What excitement at your house. So much fun to watch animals isn’t it. Enjoyed every minute. Man you have to not go out at night with all the bears around. Scary. When do they go to sleep for the winter? Should maybe be full there at your house. Thanks for sharing. I get so excited when you have posted something. Try to check every day. Love me