1-28-15 Observation

     On one of the warmest days of the month I knew I had to get out to do some observing. I don't know if it was because of the warm weather but the wildlife seemed to be everywhere today. When I first sat down it was partly cloudy, 50 degrees with a brisk wind from the South. I sat down next to a scrubby evergreen on the edge of a corn field next to a stand of timber with a small clearing running against part of the fenceline. If you read my 1-22-15 blog, I was sitting very close to where I saw the buck about a week ago. I was setup by 3:20 and immediately the song birds began fluttering throughout many of the trees around me. In the distance I heard the crow of a pheasant as the wind died down significantly. With out the constant hush of the wind in the trees, a few minutes before four O'clock I sensed the faintest of noises coming from the North. Slowly I stood up and kept my eyes peeled on the edge of the woods. After a few moments I heard a few footsteps and I pinpointed where they were coming from. I saw a brown figure start moving which I soon realized was a deer. One foot at a time the doe stepped from the grass and into the corn field but before long I noticed the deer had somewhat of a calm nervousness about her. She began looking around and carefully walked right back from where she came from, there is a good chance she had caught my scent in the wind. I sat back down and took in the sights and sounds of the chattering squirrels and birds. I can't quite put a finger on it but today when I looked around, the fields and the treetops had a beautiful golden tint to them. Half an hour after seeing the deer walk away I heard a snort from a deer deep in the valley. Certainly a deer had come across my scent and was alerting all other deer in the area of my presence. A little while longer I heard movement to the South, as I stood up I saw a couple turkeys darting away disappearing behind the tree trunks. There could have been close to a dozen of the big birds but they never came into full view. As I sat next to the scrubby evergreen with the last half hour of sunlight fading away I heard geese honking far away, squirrels barking at intruders, raccoons fighting each other for possible mates, and as I walked across the top of the muddy cornfield I could hear the howling of coyotes fill the air for miles. Each one of these species interacting with their own kind but playing a very large part in the environment.