Karen Wils photo A whitetail fawn at about one week old.
ESCANABA — The gentle month of June is bejeweled with flowers and fawns.
No matter how many times you’ve experienced June in Upper Michigan, the season still takes your breath away.
Like priceless gems, the precious plant life and wildlife of June in the North Woods is a treasure to behold.
There’s a population explosion going on all across the U.P right now.
It is definitely “baby animal” season. From the fledgling robins by our back doors to the moose calf out in the marsh, new life is everywhere.
Of all of the cute cubs, kit and small fry out there, the whitetail fawn is by far the sweetest.
Those big, brown eyes and sooty black nose can melt the hearts of all nature lovers.
Fawns are born in the central U.P. usually between Memorial Day weekend and the 14th of June. Late fawns are dropped around the 4th of July.
The vegetation springs out on the forest floor to make good places to camouflage young whitetails. The watchful doe’s coat turns from its winter drab gray to sleek red summer coat.
As the fiddle head ferns unfurl into plumes of green, the spotted fawns make their appearances. A newborn deer and a newborn human typically weigh about seven pounds.
The mother deer tucks her fawn away in a secluded spot when it is new and then moves away from it, trying to keep her sent away from her offspring. She returns to nurse, wash and re-hide the fawn.
So if you cross paths with a “Bambi” out there, the best thing you can do is zoom in for a photo and tip toe away. Mama deer is sure to be back.
If the deer is the cutest baby animal of June, then the lady slipper flower has to be the prettiest of all the June blossoms.
Delta County is home to three different kinds of wild lady slippers. The pink lady slipper thrives in the mixed soft woods, the yellow lady slippers grow in cool clay soil and the showy lady slipper is the queen of the wetlands. These flowers are in the orchid family and are rare and should never be picked.
After a few good warm, humid days in June, the lady slippers will start to pop out. As many times as I have seen these unique flowers along a mossy trail or covered with the morning dew, they still bring a tear of joy to my eyes.
Getting down on your hands and knees in the mud is part of the fun of photographing these jewels of the forest.
If you are lucky enough, while you’re taking a picture of the prettiest flower in the woods, the cutest creature in the woods might go leaping by.
Lady slippers and fawns are a part of the magic of being a Yooper.
Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.
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