Deerie and the Frogs

This older fawn is exploring her world and encounters a strange unknown thing. Is it edible?

I saw this photo as I browsed my archives for other subjects. This photo is actually from a decade ago! This was back when the deer first showed up in our neighborhood after the last tiny bit of greenspace was developed. Also a couple years after a neighbor’s tree fell across a section of my fence and one of my own trees fell across another section so this was all new to them. I’ve managed to pretty much keep them out of my yard for the past couple of years with barriers and kept them from eating everything again with deterrents if they do get in. I’ve always loved watching them and photographing them, and even done a few paintings of them. I developed my yard into a registered Backyard Wildlife Habitat over the course of 20 years by studying our local native plants and carefully gathering seeds and cuttings to coax them to grow in my yard, leaving a buffer around the outside edge in the back that was the natural browse for deer and other wildlife. It supported many native species that are endangered including garter snakes and toads, and I counted 51 species of birds and 32 species of butterflies, not all of them resident but definitely having a stopover during migration, out or back. They all disappeared within two years of the deer’s arrival. I’m working on building that back.

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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, visit my galleries of Photography on Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “Custom Prints” for availability and terms. I'll be more than happy to make a print for you.