Little Buck and Duck
2 October 2013
Last year a doe showed up for breakfast with two fawns. While the doe and the female offspring remain very cautious around me, Little Buck is a bit braver. He can stand his ground until I break the ten feet perimeter, then he skitters off a few steps. So, of course he’s a favorite.
This morning, when I came out of the house to put out the morning bird, deer, turkey, and various other critter food, he wasn’t peering out from the woods where the piles of corn and sunflower seeds were yet to be placed. And he wasn’t standing on the edge of the woods opposite the garage door where the seeds and corn are stored. (Garage is also known as the ‘here comes the food’ place.) He wasn’t with his mom and sister. Instead he was standing bravely all alone in the driveway staring up at me on the front steps as if to say, “Were you really going to sleep all day? It’s at least 7:30 am, and I haven’t had breakfast. Let’s get a move on, lady.”
I discovered early on that deer and turkey share better if there are many little piles of corn and seed. I distributed the food and stepped up on the first of the earthen steps from the woods up to the driveway. Two very skittish fawns recently grown out of their spots, this year’s crop, decided if Little Buck was good with chowing down around the human, then ‘OKAY!’
Later we went to the pond for the walking trails. I watched the mallard, who had been ‘Waiting for Godot’ on the dock railing before, swimming full steam ahead from the far end of the pond toward the dock. By the time we finished our walk, he was back on his railing. I guess Godot is a No Show even for ducks.
Kath who noted that the drake gave her a very hard look to warn her he knew she wasn’t Godot, and better not step foot on his dock.
