The title of this piece, “Juveniles are on Their Way,” is not about young kids on their way somewhere; rather, it refers to the fact that spring is here and now is the time to watch for a variety of new juvenile wildlife.
As I mentioned in last week’s article, one of the guys at our morning coffee session mentioned that when he looked out into his backyard, he saw a mature red fox and several kits. Apparently, the fox had burrowed under his shed outback, and that is now the temporary home for the fox family. My guess is my buddy will be seeing foxes in his backyard for a while.
Speaking of seeing new wildlife, some friends and I were just recently talking about whether anyone had spotted any fawn deer yet.
What’s interesting is that following that conversation on my way back home, I looked off into a field and there stood a doe, and standing behind her was a fawn-my first fawn sighting this year.
In Pennsylvania, fawn deer are usually born starting in mid-May and into early June, but some are born even later. Over the next few weeks, I expect to hear other people talking about spotting their first fawn of the year.
Another wildlife juvenile I am expecting to spot almost anytime now is wild turkey poults. I have been seeing turkeys quite frequently in my daily travels, and what’s interesting is that a hen has been showing up regularly on one of my cameras. I’m guessing she may have a nest nearby. Young poults are born in late May through mid-June.
What I found interesting is that a hen lays an egg nearly every day until her nest contains 8-15 eggs, but she won’t begin incubating constantly until after all the eggs are laid. Incubation takes approximately 28 days. Of course, those young poults are easy game for predators, and the main defense for poults is to hide when they hear the mother hen’s warning call. They remain motionless until the mother hen sounds the all-clear.
Something I’ve never seen but I find interesting is that a mother hen may feign an injury to lure any intruders away from her young.
Some other youngsters that will certainly get our attention if they show up are cub black bears. The cubs are actually born in early January while still in their dens. Cubs don’t leave the den until they are about three months old. Needless to say, if you do spot some cubs, keep your distance, since mom will do whatever it takes to protect those youngsters.
Needless to say, there’s a whole lot more wildlife youngsters that will be showing up, including “kits” or bunnies, baby raccoons, opossums, woodchucks, and to everybody’s excitement, maybe even baby skunks. Unfortunately, some of these young wildlife sightings will likely be found splattered along a highway, especially fawns.
Well, keep your eyes open for all the new wildlife that will be showing up, and I should mention too that the snake will be coming out of their dens as well-that will excite a lot of folks.
