So, today, because I clearly can't take a rainy day as an indication to RELAX, I went for another run. And this time the sky was not just misting, it was actively raining. I kind of wonder if it will ever be sunny again, actually. Judging from the weather forecast it might be some time.
Anyway, I ran the same run that I took yesterday, but today, perhaps convinced that no human would venture out after such epic flooding, I stumbled upon a mother deer and her three babies. Yes, I counted them correctly, there were three babies. Which was the first strange thing about these deer, since typically a mother deer has only one or two offspring. The second strange thing was that, here they were, in September, when the deer are typically gearing up for their mating season, and here were three fawns who still had their spots.
But this little family seemed completely disinterested in me as I jogged up to them, and carried on eating, even as I (completely abandoning all codes of the runner) fully stopped running, thus breaking my stride and crept up behind a log to watch them. Soaking my new running shoes. My new WHITE running shoes. In the mud. But knowing me that was bound to happen sooner or later.
I think they would have let me watch them all day, they just kept eating, completely unimpressed by my presence. The mother would occasionally look up at me when I would move, soundless though it was to me, and she'd stare hard, her narrow elfin face fixed on where I was "hiding". I could tell by her delicate radar ears and her wide searching eyes that she was not fooled. But after a while she would twitch her ears and bend her head to the grass again, flicking her tail back and forth as she fed. When she had a good mouthful she would lift her head a little and survey her babies, chewing carefully. She would swallow only when satisfied that they were doing well, and only then dip her head again. She was not a big deer, hardly that much bigger than her fawns, which made me wonder how she could have carried them all. This must be her first or second reproductive year, she herself is hardly more than a baby.
As a human being I thought to myself "Good job Mama Deer, take good care of your babies." and happily resumed my (now labored) pace. But as an environmentalist, which I can't shake no matter how much I might like to at times, I knew how the odds were stacked against this particular mother. A young deer, in her early reproductive years, birthing fawns late in the season, and having three of them at that. With each fact the likelihood that these fawns will survive the winter diminishes. But I can hope that at least, seeing as how a large graveyard in Philadelphia is completely devoid of anything resembling a natural predator, they might have a slightly better chance.
Still this was a sobering way to pass the rest of my run, and I will look for this little family again on future runs. And at least with all the rain, although I don't doubt that more horrific flooding will result, they will have a few days of rainy peace to graze and start to prepare themselves for the coming cold.
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