By: This is unusual enough that I just have to write about it. Twice in the last week, I’ve almost run over a deer while driving through my subdivision. If you are reading this from some place other than the desert of Arizona, you may not think that all that unusual. But the deer in question was indeed in the sonoran desert of Arizona, in the city of Scottsdale. I’m pretty sure it’s a doe, and given I’ve seen her twice, she’s roaming around alone. My guess is that she’s drinking from the troughs that are behind the many negative edge swimming pools in my neighborhood, and munching on the fall flowers.
The McDowell Mountains in Scottsdale connect via natural and open space to the Tonto National Forest. The Tonto National Forest supports a great number of deer, and in the spring and fall, those deer seem to find the cool climate of North Scottsdale very favorable. I’ve never seen deer anywhere else in the valley, except for the McDowell Mountains. Along with deer, we more routinely see coyotes and javelina (wild boar). Occasionally I’ve seen a fox and very rarely a mountain lion. And a day doesn’t go by when I don’t see rabbits, although I’d appreciate never seeing them on my back lawn again, despite all attempts to the contrary.
In September of 2004, I captured this deer munching on some fresh flowers, shortly after we had planted them. FYI, stags are best photographed standing next to cholla cactus, especially stag horn cholla cactus.
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