Newborn

Kodak DX7630 1/60 sec. f3 flash

This spring was my first with a digital camera. One of the things I really wanted to catch was a fawn. I love going into the wild areas. I spend a lot of my time in the back country praying. On this day I prayed for God to show me some of His wonders. . .

It was May 28th and I had been keeping my eyes open for fawns. I knew that around here that May is the usually the month when they are born, but I hadn't seen any yet. This day, I was on my belly in a bog taking pictures of an eastern box turtle that I had come across. I thought to myself, how soft and dry and cushy the old grass in this bog was. I would have had no problem balling up my jacket and taking a little nap right there. I thought, what a perfect spot for a doe to drop her fawn.

The grass was maybe 5-6 feet tall and hadn't filled in yet. There were little tunnels and paths in the grass. I walked just a few yards from the turtle and I kicked up a doe just a little ahead of me. She ran maybe 50 yards and then she stopped and turned and just stood and stared at me. . . I knew. . . I knew. . . I knew she had a fawn nearby. She never would have stopped otherwise. I walked to where she had kicked up and there were these precious newborn twin fawns. They were very newly born. Bright red blood was on the grass and in fact the little guys were still a bit wet from the birth (notice ear in this shot). It was magical. I was weeping and praying. It was just a holy moment. To see something like that was beyond my hopes and imagination. . . I snapped off about 40 shots. I was only there for a very few minutes. I didn't think about composition or anything. I knew I needed to get out of there. These little guys needed their mama and I was very much an intruder.

I almost hesistate to post this picture. I felt fearful at the time that maybe mama wouldn't come back to them. I didn't sleep well that night. It was an impulsive thing. I went back the next day and thank God there weren't any hungry fawns to be found (or worse). It was the most amazing thing. I'll never forget that day.

Dave