THE DINING AREA with the big front window looking out on the porch is where I like to have a winter breakfast and watch the bird feeders. To give the birds some shelter I throw corn out on the lawn and some cracked corn is placed on the porch under the hanging feeders. I was sipping coffee and caught movement in the window and almost dropped my mug. There was a tiny little button buck looking over the window sill with curiosity and no fear.

Someone suggested I call him Kilroy after the cartoon figure. When Kilroy put his head down to lick up the corn he disappeared. I could hear his little hooves clunking along as he got every piece of corn. I had my camera on the table to photograph unusual birds so when he looked up again, I got an unusual deer instead.

I couldn’t believe he had walked up the steep front steps and felt no one else would believe me. He was so young, about the size of a German shepard dog, and so hungry. Deer eat tips of brush and tree branches during winter and these little ones can’t reach high enough to get much to eat. Their mothers chase them away if they try to nurse at this stage even though they stay near their mothers until the new fawns are born in June. There was an icy snow cover which made reaching grass difficult too.

I watched the youngsters at spots that older deer have dug out and left for another spot. When my breakfast guest finished, he calmly walked down the front steps to join his wary and concerned mother, who was licking up corn on the lawn. How he found the porch corn is a mystery. Maybe he saw the birds eating or possibly he smelled it. Fawns often look up at me in the kitchen window, so he must be one of these fearless ones from last summer.

After Kilroy finishes cleaning the porch, the floor looks freshly mopped. I like that although the birds don’t. I replenish the corn for the birds after the deer leave. Now I look forward to seeing my breakfast friend and even the cat looks for him too. The cat and Kilroy try to touch noses through the glass, which leaves nose prints inside and out. My only concern is that more deer will join in or what if he keeps coming on the porch when he is an 8-point buck? The future will be interesting. For now, he is cute and the corn should help him until the spring grass grows.

What’s cookin’? Photo by Nancy Jane Kern