Nature's Daycare

Last week as I pulled up the window shade I discovered I had a new job for the day. There was a small fawn tucked into the bushes under our bedroom window. As does will with their young, she had deposited her fawn in what she considered a safe place for the day while she went out to forage. For whatever reason the chosen spot was beneath our bedroom window. 

I was now running a fawn daycare! I had so much enjoyment stopping my work every half an hour or so to peek at my small visitor. Curled up with two parallel spot lines running head to tail the fawn looked safe and comfy. Occasionally the fawn stood up to stretch. Looking up at me with a shiny wet nose on wobbly legs it looked tiny and vulnerable. I have no idea why its mother chose to leave it so close to my view. Certainly under my window was not the most wild or out of the way spot as far as human contact was concerned. But we spent the day peacefully taking each other in.

​I did not see the moment when mom returned to pick the fawn up. But late in the afternoon on one of my checks the fawn was gone. I felt disappointed. It's not often living in a town that I get such prolonged contact with young wildlife. I felt oddly happy that I had been entrusted with the safety of one of nature's young things for a day. And I just want to tell all the wild things out there that my daycare is open anytime!