In our yard

Dan Geddings took this picture from his kitchen window.
Dan Geddings took this picture from his kitchen window.
DAN GEDDINGS / SPECIAL TO THE SUMTER ITEM
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The doe was very cautious, with her ears forward and her head held high. She came up the slight incline slowly and on full alert. After she had scanned the area carefully, she put her head down to feed on the corn that was scattered on the bare earth. Her wariness surprised me, but now I saw the reason for her concern. Two small fawns were coming up behind her.

The dainty little spotted fawns came up from the shady woods. They stopped at the edge of the woods and sniffed at the corn. More deer were coming now, and the doe turned away, with the twin fawns following. I was standing at the back door watching the deer at the edge of the yard. It was an hour before darkness would come.

A couple of years ago, I was surprised to see a deer track in the back yard. A big limb had fallen and knocked down a section of fence across the back. I figured that the deer had hopped over the fence there and explored our yard during the night.

Deer have been walking back and forth through my father-in-law's yard at night for years. His yard is not fenced, and he had been putting out corn near his back door. We gave him a trail camera for Christmas one year, and he had many pictures of the nocturnal visitors.

I put out some shelled corn at the back of the yard, and within a few days, I saw deer tracks there. They had found the corn. One bright moonlit night I saw several deer at the corn from our bedroom window. More and more deer came to the yard. One night my wife, Ginger, and I counted nine deer out in the back yard.

At night, under the stars, they would come to the corn, then trot across the yard and jump the fence between our house and Ginger's sister's house. They would trot through the front yard, cross the road and spread out into the large field in front of our house. Then return before dawn.

Eventually the deer started coming before dark. Ginger or I will walk by the back door and exclaim "deer" when we see them. The deer can see us, too. When we are in the kitchen the deer will look up and watch us for a moment, then go back to eating corn. Sometimes when I come home for lunch, the deer will come out looking for corn.

Of course, other critters have been coming to the yard. Lately, we have been seeing a raccoon in the afternoons. Rabbits visit the corn throughout the day. They run at each other and leap straight up in the air. It must be serious behavior to them, but it seems so silly to us. Squirrels spend the day in the big hardwoods at the edge of our yard. They climb up and down the trees and over the garden trellis in the edge of the woods. When there is corn present, they sit out there on their haunches eating the shelled kernels, with their shiny white buddha bellies glowing in the afternoon sun.

If the deer eat all the corn at night, the squirrels will venture across the lawn to our little fenced-in garden, at the back door. They come for the bird seed. We have a half dozen feeders up for the birds. The birds waste a lot of seed that falls to the ground below, where the squirrels can get it very easily, but they make repeated attempts to get up to the feeders.

Our little dog Buster stands at the back door watching the squirrels and whining. If he gets out, he will chase the squirrels across the yard to the woods, then trot back to the house triumphantly. Within minutes the squirrels will be back.

Some of the birds will stop at the corn at the edge of the woods. Doves, red birds and blue jays will visit the corn, then come to the feeders. We get an amazing variety of birds at our feeders. Painted buntings, house finches, woodpeckers, brown-headed cowbirds and many more species.

It is our yard, but we share it with the deer, birds and other wild critters.

Reach Dan Geddings at cdgeddings@gmail.com.