The deer are here!

Before I tell you about the deer in our yard, let me report that the rubber snake worked! The robins did not come back to the front porch to build their nest - in fact - they have built the nest in a nearby scrub oak! I watch them flying back and forth to their nest each day and I am glad they found a safe place for their little family!
Now to the deer (or "deers" as Gigi calls them) - we enjoyed watching them this past winter shortly after we moved into our home and then for about 3 months, they went elsewhere and we didn't see them at all in our backyard. Well, they are now back in full force! I enjoy watching them in the early mornings feeding and napping in the shade in the afternoon. We are hoping to begin our landscaping this week and once all of our shrubs and trees are planted, we may feel differently about them as they will probably feed on our plants. For now, I love watching these graceful and interesting animals. I like to stand on our back deck and look into their faces when they look up to see me standing there.  They sometimes look a bit puzzled when I talk to them.  We love living in this mountain setting!

 The yearlings are so cute and they follow their mothers everywhere.

 They seem to like the leaves of the scrub oak best with grass coming in second.  I am hoping that when our ground cover goes in that doesn't become their favorite!

 With their over sized ears, we believe that they are mule deer.

 They are losing their winter fur coats - this fellow still has most of his/her? winter look.

We even put a salt lick to attract them to the yard.  This little guy heard me snapping pictures and got a little nervous and camera shy.