This time, however they were different. In my previous deer pictures the animals did not have horns. These did so I assume these are male where the others were female. I think that’s true of most deer although I’ve read that reindeer females also have horns. I think these are pictures of two different deer. No females this time. I guess it was guys night out.

Taken with a Sony A77II and Tamron SP A08 200-500 f/5-f/6.3 IF di

We (my dog Harley and myself) were sitting on the balcony watching the world go by when this deer appeared. Harley immediately started barking at it. This didn’t seem to bother the deer one bit. He/she just stood there looking at Harley. After a while Harley stopped barking and they both just stood there looking at each other for some time. I didn’t really want to take any more pictures of deer – I have so many, but I couldn’t resist.

When I looked at the picture on the computer I noticed that the deer had lots of bumps on its head, neck and shoulders. Examining them more closely I realized that they were probably engorged deer ticks.

This made me wonder if deer get Lyme disease. After some internet research I discovered that they don’t. They carry the ticks around, but, if bitten don’t get the disease. Some research also indicates that not only do the deer not get the disease, but if they are bitten by a tick they somehow make the tick immune from the disease. Apparently the ticks get the disease from mice, not from deer. So the bad guys in all of this are not the ticks, not the deer, but the mice.

Taken with a Sony A77II and Tamron SP A08 200-500 f/5-f/6.3 IF di

Another attempt at macro photography. I was sitting outside on the balcony when I heard a sound as this small (1/2 to 3/4 inch) bee dropped down onto the arm of the chair where I was sitting.

For once I actually had the right lens within easy reaching distance. The bee didn’t seem to want to leave any time soon so I was able to take a few pictures, of which this one was the best.

A footnote: I took this picture about a week ago. Yesterday afternoon I was sitting on the balcony again when I felt a sharp prick on my left shoulder. Having been stung before I knew immediately what it was. I took off my tee shirt and shook it out and a small bee dropped out and scuttled away. I’d always heard that bees die after they sting, but this didn’t seem to be the case with this one. It looked suspiciously like the bee in the picture above. Maybe it was annoyed because I’d posted its picture to Instagram.

Taken with a Sony A6000 and 7artisans 60mm F2.8 Macro Lens