When you are a prey species, you develop all sorts of ways to avoid predators from changing colors like some lizards, to mimicking other species that are noxious like many insects, to feeding and living in groups like many birds and mammals. One thing that almost all prey species have in common, though, is a serious attentiveness to their surroundings. White tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are well camouflaged for their forest environments and they are quite fast, but they are also very, very attentive. When I came around a corner and discovered this doe and fawn, their heads and ears were already up and you can see, the fawn is poised to run. When I stopped and stayed quiet they decided I wasn’t a threat and went on about browsing, but each time I moved at all, they were all at attention again.

It was wonderful getting to spend a little time watching them interact. The doe was very loving with her fawn. She would eat a couple bites and then lick and groom the baby. Then she’d eat a little more and go back to grooming the fawn. I wish I could have spent more time there, but I will treasure the few minutes that I had.