The Guildwood grounds in Guildwood Village, Scarborough has mostly open pathways that are shared between birders, photographers and noisy pedestrians that revel in the sound of their own voice. The youngest among them are probably students from the adjacent high-school and they are by far the noisiest of the lot, where shouting is a way of life. Then again, high-school could make one scream by default. There are a few minor (barely) trails running askew from the main drag in the heavily wooded areas. These trails are easily overlooked and feature muddy sections that demand ones attention. I had to get away from the main drag because every time I spotted something it would be flushed by a park visitor. It gets very frustrating. Once on one of these barely-there side trails I noted many deer prints in the mud. I'm not much of a detective but I reckon that these muddy spoors are deer trails. I stopped at a spot where I spied two Winter wrens and stood still, waiting for something to appear within my optical reach. After five minutes of motionless surveillance I heard a rustle to my left and turned to look in that direction and saw two deer approaching. I returned my gaze forward and ignored them. The deer stopped to graze about ten feet away from me. I then turned right and carefully moved away looking down at the mud, walked three paces, stopped, walked three more paces and stopped to scrutinize again. After a few minutes the deer moved closer to me and by the time I decided to move on they were maybe 5 feet away ... in other words, right beside me. It was weird, but kind of nice too. Just deer - me - mud.
