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Sweet Spot

August 2, 2018

Sweet Spot

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Julie Larsen Julie Larsen

A green frog’s distinctive call, like the plucking of a rubber band, echoes across the fen in the Delaware Water Gap. The marshy space is a peaceful place. Graying snags stand like sentries on a verdant carpet of ferns and provide cover for many kinds of local wildlife.

All is still as the afternoon light leaks through the dense foliage around me. I hear a snap and turn to see a white-tailed deer fawn rise from its tall grass nursery. It stretches one wobbly leg at a time as it makes its way to its mother. The young deer’s reddish-brown coat is marked with hundreds of white spots that help it blend in to its woodland home and protect it from predators. Fawns are born in mid to late spring according to the National Park Service, so this bespeckled baby is just a few months old.

The Gap, a national recreation area spilling across the borders of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has more than 100 miles of hiking trails that meander along brooks, bogs, and rocky ridges. Groundhogs, coyotes, crows, fox, frogs, snakes, skunks, and white-tailed deer are all among its inhabitants.

Nikon D5


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4 comments

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Edith Luis
August 2, 2018 at 9:01 am

lovely capture! heartwarming 🙂

Julie Larsen Maher
August 2, 2018 at 1:02 pm

Thanks so much. Glad you appreciate little moments in nature like this one!

Scott
August 2, 2018 at 2:47 pm

Julie,

How on earth did you catch that shot? You must have just had micro-seconds to point and click. Very impressive!

Nice write up too!

Keep up your excellent work!

Scott.

    Julie Larsen Maher
    August 2, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    Thanks, Scott! You are right, it was a really quick photo. I used a long lens and watched from a distance as the fawn and its mother came together and stepped lightly on through the forest.