I haven't been on my favorite trails for a few weeks and still could not go out today but I did go for a drive.  The bison were on the move at Elk Island National Park.  It is always fun watching as they make their way through the snow or file one behind the other beside the vehicles parked on the Bison Loop roadway.  They can get up close and personal as they pass by.

On the way home I stopped at the Waskahegan Staging area to see what the ski trails were like after the Birkebeiner was held there last weekend.  The groomer has done a good job.  It looked like skiing should be good.  I can't wait until I am totally over this bout of laryngitis; doing anything strenuous in the cold air does not bode well with my throat.

As I pulled into my driveway, seven deer heads popped up simultaneously behind a snowbank.  It took me by surprise and was pretty funny to see.  They didn't stick around.  I got out of the truck to open the garage door and they bolted into the forest.

It didn't take long for them to return.  The seven does and fawns cleaned out the grain dish and the bird feeders.  When they left for good, I refilled everything.  Not a half hour later, three bucks came into the yard.  There are two white tailed deer and one mule deer.  The last time I saw them, two of the three still had their antlers.  Today they were all antler-less.

There is one that dominates the three.  He is always the first to eat at the grain dish.  When the others come close, he puts his ears and his head down.  If that does not stop the other from approaching, he veers up on this hind legs and stomps his front legs on the other.  This happened twice during the time I was watching.

I did witness something that I haven't seen before.  While the dominant buck was eating his grain, another one went straight to a hanging bird feeder.  He grabbed the bottom tray with his teeth and pulled down.  The tray came loose and the seeds fell from the hopper to the ground.  He didn't just do it once.  He did it to the second feeder as well.  I had been wondering why my feeders were laying in pieces on the ground.  What I witnessed answered that question this afternoon.

I love watching the deer in the yard.  I learn something new about them each time they come to visit.