Crazy Day

Well, it’s been a crazy time around Hideaway Pond.

Yesterday morning, just as we were beginning breakfast on the porch, a great blue heron flared out and landed a few feet away. Those guys have wing spans deserving of official FAA numerical identification. Impressive. It had the courtesy to leave us in peace with our meal and flew to the island. There it spent the rest of the morning looting our unsuspecting fish. Following which it flew away with its ill gotten booty on board. Not even a word of thanks. To make matters worse, it pooped in our pond as it left the local air space.

During the early evening a buck and a doe dropped by. They grazed along the edge of the pond near the ledge. Half way through their meal they launched into some behavior that was, to say the least, very unusual to our innocent eyes. They paused and the buck proceeded to lick the full length of the doe’s neck. Haven’t seen behavior like that since the fraternity parties of my erstwhile college years. With some brief research I found that such behavior signifies affection as well as dominance. So there you are. Never know what your going to learn from this modest little blog. Nor most likely care, either.

This morning a bear dropped by. Our 13th sighting of the season. We first saw it huddled down by the pond, clearly occupied by something it was eating. We suspect it of having snatched one of our fish. However, since its fur coat didn’t appear to be wet, there’s probably not enough evidence to prosecute. Once it detached its attention from its meal, it wandered into the woods and around the pond. It eventually disturbed a heron, fully occupied with fishing for its lunch. Thus, irritating it enough to fly off to a quieter lunch venue. This bear is obviously an unabashed serial pain in the ass. Don’t suppose the heron can prosecute, either.

The evening was absolute chaos, caused by the almost simultaneous arrival of three does and their fawns. Two pairs came within a few feet of the porch and eventually grazed on the lawn. Another pair hung out on a peninsula on a far edge of the pond. Much ado about nothing if you ask me. Or don’t.