Deer and a less frequent visitor.

Wildlife depend on reliable water sources to stay alive when they live in central Texas. This summer was especially dry from June through September, with plants turning a light crispy brown color in the natural landscape.

A fox passes by the water feature.

Luckily for the wildlife near us, we have a water feature that provides a good source of water. Because of that water source (and an area where native plants allowed to grow wild) we are visited daily by all manner of natural creatures big and small.

A toasty brown landscape that is forced to go dormant. (No animals in this photo.)

  

As you know from my previous blog posts, deer are the most frequent daytime visitors, followed by birds, and then insects like wasps, bees, and butterflies. But the nocturnal creatures also need to get a drink once in a while.


It's a rare occurrence to spot foxes, raccoons, possums, coyotes and other nocturnal visitors during daylight hours. But the game camera never sleeps, and keeps watch at the water feature for these creatures of the night.

Recently the camera caught the first night photos of a coyote visiting our water feature, which is exciting for us. We had spotted a coyote in our yard a couple of times, but had not captured a photo of one yet. These first coyote photos are embedded in the picture selection below.

The first photos, though, are going to be our deer visitors. 

A nice 8-point buck stops by for refreshment.

This season's fawns (most are born in May/June) are losing their spots before the winter season starts.

Can you find all ten deer in this picture?

Look at this deer's ears as it tries to listen to a noise coming from behind.

The same deer is now pointing its ears forward like a dog, which is a behavior I had not noticed in deer before.

The bucks visit less often in the daytime.

Some does also get into the act.

  


Now on to our recent coyote photos. 

The animal looks well fed in spite of the intensely dry weather for the summer.

This could be a fox rather than a coyote streaking across the background.

Here's my favorite photo because the coyote is out in the early morning.