Deer on an Early Morning Swim

I walked from our campsite to the water, Red Bird Creek, early on our first morning there. It rained the night before and still threatened rain. Dense fog restricted the distant view of the Ogeechee River, and with morning light obscured and the fog both the sky and water appeared gray and slightly out of focus. At that point I was the only person there, no one fishing along the pier, certainly no one launching a kayak, and no other early risers walking or biking by.

I enjoyed the quiet, checked out the birds, and turned to leave when in the distance something in the water caught my eye. Thinking it a water bird I missed, I looked at it through the binoculars and saw the head of a deer.

Deer swim and are said to be exceptional swimmers, but I never saw one swimming through deeper water like this. I watched until it approached land, got its footing, shook a little to dry off a bit, then disappeared into the grasses of the salt marsh.