Tuesday Morning, 3/15/2011

Beware the Ides of March! Actually, I think it will be a beautiful day. We had a lovely red sunset last night with lots of purple and coral afterglow.

This morning the mated pair of geese (that were here yesterday?) arrived with a great deal of fanfare--much honking--at 7:30, along with a third goose and a male mallard. An odd group.

Two muskrats got busy grooming and scratching themselves and catching and eating small fish--probably bluegills. I keep the spotting scope set up all the time with a focus toward the pond so I can see more detail whenever I choose.

About 7:40 I spotted the movement of deer on the ridge to the west of the pond, and grabbed the binoculars to count them. They are so hard to see, even with no leaves out yet, because the snow is rapidly melting off and their color blends in perfectly with the brown earth. They move too much for the scope to be very useful.

I was concerned that the lead deer, a larger female, appeared to be interested in crossing the road. Our road fits the definition of the type of road that has the most deer-car accidents--a two lane road with a speed limit of 50 mph. It is busy at this time of day, with commuter traffic heading for the interstate exit just 3 miles away. She went toward the road, ran back toward the group, and they milled around a bit. Then she took off again, this time with more confidence, and they all followed. I was able to see that there were 7--2 larger females and 5 young ones. It looked like they were heading into the woods to the west, but then they veered toward the road and all crossed it at a run. I was worried about the last ones making it across, but luckily the big oncoming pickup was able to stop in time.

Watching the deer this winter has given me a better understanding of why there are so many deer-vehicle accidents. When they want to cross the road, they don't stand near the edge of it, so traffic can see them and slow down like humans would. They wait further back where drivers can't see them, watching the traffic, and then make a dash for it. They clearly see the traffic as a hazard, but they are unable to judge the speed of oncoming vehicles accurately, and they do not take into account that ridge to the west where traffic suddenly appears over it. Lots of times they abort the mission when traffic seems too close as they get to the edge of the road, but there have been three deer-vehicle accidents in the year we have lived here--one that happened when we were home.

I called the road commission this winter to ask them to put up a deer crossing sign. They told me they don't do it any more, because their research has showed that people don't slow down when they see the signs. This is easy to believe.