The Friday of Memorial Day weekend dawned beautifully. At around 6:30, I left the house, headed for the barn to get the sheep out onto a new swath of pasture. I was greeted by this peaceful sight in the backyard, near the vegetable garden. Mom and two very newborn White-tailed fawns were relaxed and appeared hopeful that I would just leave them alone. Both fawns were very shaky on their feet, but eventually got up, looking for breakfast. Mom, on the other hand, never took her eyes off of me.
It is almost 100% predictable that we will see our first fawns on the farm during the Memorial Day weekend. In addition, over the last few years it has been almost as predictable that the fawn or fawns will be born in the “Orchard” pasture. It makes me think that this is the same mother, who knows that she has a very secure location for delivering her fawns. I left them alone after taking their pictures from a distance. I continued on with my chores, setting up the new pasture fence and getting the flock out. A half hour later, with the sheep taken care of, I returned to the house. The family had moved a few feet to the south (in the deeper grass on the other side of the fence). Another 30 minutes later they had melted into the landscape. They are still somewhere nearby. I have seen Mom in the nearby pastures every day since. Welcome to the neighborhood!