A new (four legged neighbor) appears

This morning we realized that the brown lump at the bottom of the tree in the back yard was not a branch.  Yesterday morning, in the bleary-eyed pre-dawn drizzle I noticed that a branch must have fallen from the plum tree.  And, I never thought more about it.

When we looked out this morning, this is what we saw.

Looking closer, we could see a new fawn.

A couple days ago, about 6:30 AM we saw a deer in the back yard.  It was nibbling the leaves on this tree.  Then it wandered out the hole in the back fence.  Our first thought was to check the garden.  We didn't find any evidence that the deer had tried to eat anything inside the fence.  Now I wonder, was it the mother looking for a place to drop her fawn?

In the early afternoon today, we saw the fawn wander off through the back fence.  When and where it caught up with its mother we don't know.  So far it hasn't come back to bed down under the tree.  But we'll check in the morning.

I did learn a couple interesting facts about fawns.  For the first few days they have no scent.  This helps them avoid predators while they are gaining strength to walk.  The mother stays away during this time so that her scent does not attract predators.   However, the mother is always around the area watching and she will come to her baby's aid should it be in distress.  That is a reminder to me that fawns are not abandoned even though they may seem to be.