A cold weather walk

Although the temperature reading in my car reminded me it was well below freezing, I decided on a trail walk in Chagrin River Park. After all, it was warmer than yesterday’s 19 degrees (Fahrenheit), and there was a weak sun in the sky. The first wildlife I spotted were these whitetail deer, who quickly noticed me with my camera. In cold weather, when the ground is covered with snow, deer seem to think “FOOD!” when they spot a human along the trail. So this trio naturally headed in my direction.

As they came closer, one of them could see that birds were landing on the nearby fence post and flying away with peanuts crammed into their beaks.

I’ll bet you can guess what the hungry deer did next. Birds aren’t the only ones that like peanuts, and that deer was very hungry. She decided to get some peanuts for herself.  She sidled up to the fence post and stretched her neck as far as she could, but I’m sorry to say, she was a few inches too short to reach the peanuts nestled in the crack in the fence post.

I have seen taller deer stretch far enough to get their (very long) tongues into the fencepost, but this deer had to go away hungry and look elsewhere for her supper. She was just too short. I could have offered her some peanuts, but the park rangers frown on that because it encourages deer to approach people along the trail, which can be very unsettling to some trail walkers. Deer, after all, are wild animals.

That’s it for today’s trail walking episode.
Come back soon to see what other stories we can find along the trail.

Trail Walker