This was taken from my living room window this morning.

Unfortunately I had to run and get the camera so I missed them when they were really close — right in my front yard.

Some years ago I read that the deer population in Monroe County was one of the highest in the entire state. The worst concentrations have typically been in Irondoquoit, a northern suburb where parks like Durand Eastman function as predator-free deer resorts. The consequences aren’t pretty, and include high numbers of deer-car accidents; at such high concentrations, the deer also over-browse the parks which is bad for the native woodland plants that also call them home. And forget growing hostas if you’re a homeowner.

Irondoquoit, to the horror of the pro-deer crowd, responded by culling through a bait-and-shoot program. More recently, they’ve tried contraception, a more politically acceptable alternative. Planned deerhood.

UPDATE: One mama deer in the neighborhood didn’t get the contraception memo, apparently.