One of the interesting things about the Axis deer is that the herds include more than one buck–often many bucks, as you can see in this video and another one I put up earlier. I’ve read that the herd is led by a female. Interesting, no? I’ll have to read up on that.
Take a look!
When we first saw the porcupine that day it was trying to climb over the fence from the orchard into the backyard, we were amazed! Astonished! And uncertain that we’d ever see it again. (This is pretty much how I feel about every unfamiliar creature we glimpse: the fox, for example, or the Axis deer.) These glimpses of the porcupine at night in the ravine lead us to believe that it may actually live here on these happy acres. Woohoooo! We’re having some fun now!
Enjoy these short clips. If you have the volume turned up, you might hear the odd noises it makes…. Great, huh?
We were so excited to see this gray fox! I had never seen a fox before this, so it was thrilling to check the critter-cam videos and discover visits by this beautiful creature. In the heat of summer 2012, we put buckets of water out for whoever was thirsty. Both the white-tailed and the Axis deer took advantage of the temporary oasis and, as you can see, so did the gray fox. If you have the sound turned on, you may be able to hear it lapping up the water! Kinda makes me want to put buckets out everywhere!
young asparagus, February 2012
In early Spring when the asparagus was bursting up through the mulch at such an extraordinary rate, we toyed with the idea of setting up a time-lapse camera to capture the action and make one of those movies like we’ve seen from time to time–you know the kind: a flower bud opening, a bean sprouting…. Well, one thing led to another, and our research into a camera led us to a “trail camera.”
By the time we got the thing, the asparagus was pretty much played out. So we turned our amazement and curiosity to scoping out the animals. Who lives on this land or passes through? We’d seen the occasional deer and a couple of armadillos; we’d smelled a skunk. But, aside from birds and frogs and a lizard or two, that was all we knew of the wildlife here. What would the critter cam show us?
In the first few weeks, we saw lots of deer. A doe and her fawn grazing down among the wildflowers on the Meditation Walk. She visited quite frequently and spent a long time browsing the vegetation there. Then I moved the camera to the path from the house to the yurt. We always see evidence of deer there and a narrow deer trail branches off the path, so it seemed to be a good location. And it was! The camera captured quite a few videos of deer, and we’ll post those a little later on.
But then in late June I situated the camera in the recently cleared right-of-way under power lines. And look what the critter cam captured there!
Holy smokes! I couldn’t believe it! I’d never seen anything like these deer. I learned that they are axis deer, native to India!, imported to the US for hunting. Aren’t they beautiful!
They are more closely related to elk than to our native white-tail deer. There is no hunting season for axis deer and no permit required for hunting them. This might explain why we often hear shooting out-of-season off in the distance. But who’d want to kill such a lovely creature? They can have safe haven on our green acres.
…and What In The World Is THAT!? I call out to Bibi. What??! she answers with the same tone of urgent befuddlement as I feel.
What the heck is that?!?
There, climbing on the gate to the orchard! What is it? I am clicking away with my camera, hoping I have it set to capture what I’m seeing. I am not prepared for these shots. What the heck is it?
It is climbing the gate, making several unsuccessful tries to get over it, sometimes sitting on the ground as if puzzling out what to do next. I still don’t know what we’re looking at.
Shortly it gives up and follows the fenceline. I rush to get shoes on and run outside to see if I can get a closer look. When I get to the orchard, the creature is nowhere in sight. But then Bibi, standing on the deck, sees that it has gotten over the fence at a tree and is climbing down the tree beside the little shed that used to shelter guinea hens. Slowly I turn…tiptoeing so as not to frighten the thing off.
What the heck is it? #2
I get to where Bibi is telling me it is…I look through the chainlink fence and here is what I see looking back at me. What the heck is it?!
Very soon it scoots under the shed and out of sight.
I head into the house to consult my Texas Parks & Wildlife pdf about Texas critters. There is nothing in there that looks like this! It is not a possum, a skunk, a raccoon–the usual suspects; it is not a ringtail cat, a nutria, or a mink (who knew we have minks in Texas?)….
It’s time to google creatures we are unfamiliar with–badger (nope), muskrat (no), porcupine…. A porcupine??! Ya gotta be kidding! The only time we’ve ever seen a porcupine is one summer in Maine about 25 years ago, and that was only a glimpse as it waddled off into the forest on big soft feet (or so they seemed to us at the time), big quill-covered back swaying to and fro as it went. This did not seem to be a likely answer. Do we even have porcupines in Texas? (Better tell the Parks & Wildlife folks to amend their booklet.)
Later I slowly approach the little shed and see that the critter is still there. Maybe this is where he/she lives. Maybe this creature explains the mysterious disappearance of hundreds of apples in the orchard a few weeks ago. Maybe there are lots of porcupines in these woods. Is that possible?
Is this a porcupine?
He/she would have been sleeping except for my intrusions. Here’s another shot. It’s a cute little thing.
I’ll need to do a bit of research to learn more about this creature. I remain amazed and awed by the encounter. I feel very lucky to have made its acquaintance in the way that I did: I’ve seen photos of dogs that were really unlucky in their porcupine encounters!
More photos to follow–somewhat blurry and dark–of its attempts to get over the fence.
1/28/2013: The photos of our first views of the porcupine: