Photography courtesy of Lowell Washburn, all rights reserved.
For those of us who enjoy breathing fresh oxygen — as opposed to inhaling from an
atmosphere composed largely of stifling, super heated, atomized water vapor —
the past few days have offered the most brutal week of summer weather so
far. On most mornings, sunrise dew points were excruciatingly high as
humidity readings measured anywhere from the mid-eighties to more than 90
percent. By contrast, this morning’s sunrise humidity hung at a
comparatively comfortable 46 percent. Granted, it was not exactly the
desert southwest but still good enough to get back into the outdoors for a
least the first hour or so of daylight.
Attached is a photo series depicting a woodland version of Hide & Seek —
White-tail style. The breeze was in my favor as I made close range
observations of a foraging doe and her twin fawns. Although the camera
noise occasionally put the trio on alert, I would immediately hold my fire
until the deer relaxed and resumed feeding. Deer apparently vie for
dominance at an early age, and the twins were no exception. Whenever the
“lesser fawn” would approach too closely, the dominant twin would lay
back its ears and rapidly strike out with a fore leg. We’ve all witnessed
this behavior with adult white-tails, but this is the first time I’ve gotten to
observe it with young fawns.
No matter how many times a person ventures
out, there is always something new to see in the Iowa outdoors.
Tom Cope
Sue Wilkinson
Susan Judkins Josten
Rudi Roeslein
Elyssa McFarland
Mark Langgin
Adam Janke
Joe Henry
Kristin Ashenbrenner
Joe Wilkinson
Dr. Tammy Mildenstein
Sean McMahon