The Beauty of Breakneck Hill Conservation Land

I stopped by for about half an hour this morning and was surprised at the top of the hill by a young buck who wasn't afraid of me!  He bounded toward me, which I thought he must have done by mistake.  I figured as soon as he realized his error, he'd take off in the other direction.  Not so!

I took a few pictures, and at the sound of my camera, he did take off for the other end of the meadow.

Then, surprise of all surprises, he came bounding back toward me again even closer!  He was jumping really high!  The knowledge that a deer can jump very high is quite different than watching one do so as it approaches you!  You gain a real appreciation for the strength of those legs and hooves.

He just wanted to give me the "evil eye", that's all!

He gave me a good long stare and after I attempted to scare him off by yelling, waving my arms and making enough noise to scare off a normal deer (yes, I'm a scaredy cat at heart), I decided to slowly back away, keeping an eye on his whereabouts as I did.  Eventually he took off into the woods, but only in his own good time.

In the afternoon, I came back for a butterfly hike.  There were no deer in sight...  :)

Black Swallowtail (male)

Ditto

Showy Tick-Trefoil

(I hadn't noticed this wildflower before today.)

Two teeny tiny Eastern Tailed Blues sharing the same teeny tiny clover

Eastern Tailed Blue

(I love it when they show off their inner blue wings)

Common Ringlet

Black Swallowtail 2

Cabbage White 1

Clouded Sulphur 2

Common Ringlet 4

Common Wood Nymph 3

Orange Sulphur 2

Peck's Skipper 3

Eastern Tailed Blue 11