Wildlife Preserve

I was happily surprised to discover that Mike had a day off today. I get so busy with the humdrum stuff of life that I forget about things like holidays! We headed out to Basket Slough Wildlife Preserve, which is only about 15 or 20 minutes from our home. There is a relatively easy hike that the boys can do (though Sully rode on Daddy's shoulders for quite a bit of the loop) so we like to go out there when we have the chance.




As we pulled in to the parking lot, Mike overheard a woman say she thought she saw a cougar. She described seeing something "small and gray" far off in some brush. We didn't really believe it was a cougar but told the boys to stay close just the same. ;o)


When we do see deer at the Preserve, it usually isn't until we get up a hill and into a treed area. Today, however, we saw a buck right away. He's in the first picture here. He didn't let us get too close before he ran off to be with another deer (of undetermined gender) up in the trees.

Keats always looks forward to climbing inside this hollow tree. This was the first time Sullivan was able to get in on the action.

We saw something, I think it was a very tiny fawn, in the brush while we were still in the trees. Mike was concerned that it was a cougar, or possibly a fox, so we stood still to see what it was. I saw ears & a head that looked like a deer, though I suppose it would have been something like a fox. Anyhoo, we really perked our ears up after that and told the boys to be quiet. It was like you could feel that we were going to see something neato. I could hear the thump of hooves, some breathing, and just general "something is nearby" sounds. I saw a creature walk out onto the path in front of us, walking away, and it looked to me like a deer butt...so we quickly but quietly followed.

As we exited the trees, Mike pointed to a whole herd of deer! The above picture is Keaton being excited when he noticed the herd as well.

Here are two of the three fawn we saw today.

This little guy walked on to the path maybe twenty or thirty feet in front of us. I assumed he was going to run away but he stayed on the path and walked it, away from us, for several feet. He had no concerns about our presence.

I assume this is Mama with one of her babies.

We were sooooo close to them! I wish I had a better zoom but still caught a few good shots.

Big-eared cutie.

Can you find the two fawn in the above photo?

(hint: one is on the left, one is on the right)

Peaceful, mellow baby after the hike.

We were going to stop for lunch on the way home but decided to skip lunch and have ice cream first. Keaton was, as you can imagine, terribly excited that we were going to eat ice cream before lunch! We stopped at a little fruit stand/restaraunt and the boys had some yummy ice cream cones that they thoroughly enjoyed!