A week ago, after work, I decided to make a trip to Manatee Springs State Park. I had heard that the river was flooded from Hurricane Debby and that the swimming area was closed. I thought that maybe the quiet would mean that more birds and wildlife would be around to photograph. When I got there I was very disappointed in the numbers of birds around. There were none. The water was just way too high for them to be able to fish well, so they have gone elsewhere. The white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), however, were a whole different matter. There were at least four large groups of does with fawns of different sizes and ages. All of them were pretty calm and didn’t mind my presence as long as I kept a reasonable distance between us. I was able to get quite a few shots of both groups and of individuals. I was actually surprised to see quite a few spotted fawns in each group. Unfortunately, I did not see any bucks, but the fawns more than made up for it. With nature, you never know how any particular outing will go. Most of the time I find something interesting to photograph, even if it’s not what I planned on seeing, but once in a while I come away completely empty handed, too. That’s always a little disappointing, but to me it’s always good to be outside, so the trip is never wasted time.