Wildlife At Our Doorstep

A deer stood at the edge of a forest, tail swishing, pulling down leaves from the nearby alder tree. I had heard the rustling sounds while moving to the deck and wondered what was out there in the meadow. I discovered it was who, not what. Two little ones stood near the larger female. They were still sprinkled with spots, as if a giant hand had thrown powdered sugar at their brown sides. Those spots told me the fawns were under five months old, still quite young. A deer could be described as a brown, four legged animal with soft eyes, long triangular shaped head, a small black nose in front and two elongated oval ears. A white tail accentuated the rump behind the brown furred flank.

The family of deer would likely be here for several hours, browsing for tasty morsels among the forest trees and meadow grass. Our laxness in trimming branches back or mowing the meadow benefitted these creatures. In essence, we had created a wildlife habitat. And inhabit, they did.

The deer yanked leaves down from the trees and grass up from the ground, chewing continually. If the quiet continued, they might even nestle down under a tree for a nap. However should a neighbor dog got wind of them, the ensuing bark and chase would move the deer out of the area quickly. Flies buzzed nearby, the warmth of the day hung in the humid air and the slight breeze cooled me.

Growing up in the Midwest, I never expected to see deer up close, let alone several times a year, as we did here in our oasis from city life. I had spotted them time and again while vacationing on the Oregon Coast, traveling through the state parks. The first time I saw them in the wild was at Ecola State Park in Cannon Beach, Oregon. We were driving to the beach and saw a few deer eating near the road. As we zipped past, they calmly munched.

When our kids were small, we dreamed of living away from the hubbub of the city life. At that time, we were living in SE Portland, on a street in the Hawthorne District. It was a great location for those who enjoyed living in the midst of shops, restaurants, and all the amenities of city life. But, now we hoped to raise our kids in a quieter area. So, we went searching for a different kind of home life. We found it in the hills east of Portland.

What we didn’t expect, though, was all the wildlife we would have the privilege of enjoying. At the higher altitude, we observed a different set of creatures. An example of this habitat difference is evident in the great blue heron, a bird we have observed many times at Oxbow Park but not at Dabney Park, though both are along the Sandy River, and have wondered if it was because herons like to live in isolated groups.

We have seen many more varied animals and insects living here than we had ever seen in the city, from deer and raccoons, to woodpeckers, salamanders and even praying mantis. In years past, the only place I have seen salamanders was at Lost Lake, located southwest of Hood River, Oregon, in the Mt Hood National Forest. Woodpeckers were sometimes audible in the deep woods as were great horned owls, but only if a person were to venture into their habitat for a backpacking trip.

We had a front row seat to nature’s finest offerings. I have loved to lie in bed at night and hear the hooting of owls back and forth to each other. Or hear the rustling of deer as they tread their way around the house and along a narrow path down the slope. Many times, these deer would settle under our trees and rest for the night.

Friends of ours like to hunt but luckily for our deer, they could not hunt here. Sometimes I wonder though about some neighbors. I would not be surprised to find out if one or two up in these hills might see those deer as a source of food, if they could just figure out how to surreptitiously take advantage of their proximity. Sometimes there are gunshots in the night, but it’s difficult to hear where they are coming from and impossible to tell the intended target.

There are a few deer that we consider our friends, friends in the sense that they don’t run away when we stand on the deck and watch them, which is about as close as a person can come to being friends with a deer. If we put out a salt lick, like one of our neighbors does, it’s likely they would come around more often. But at present, some neighbors have dogs that like to chase. So, we feel quite lucky when the dogs are in and the deer come close.

One female deer we have seen in years past was one we named Baby Girl. And a few years later, Baby Girl has a baby of her own. It has been funny to refer to the younger one as Baby Girl’s Baby Girl. This year our deer friends have been a pair of bucks we called Gerald and Ferdinand. Ferdinand was older with a bigger rack and Gerald had a smaller rack, but was still quite impressive in appearance. In recent days, they have been frequenting our road for the ripened fruit on nearby trees. They’ll eat their fill night after night, unless we got out first to pick our share. In a few weeks, they will disappear to their own activities in the deeper forest areas. But for now, we have been given the honor of seeing them, taking picture after picture, or just enjoying their presence at our welcoming wildlife home.