My neighbor spotted three deer outside her house this weekend. I’ve heard they swim (!?) over from Seward Park and the Eastside.
Not my neighbor’s house, and not those deer. Photo: Noel Zia Lee on Flickr.
Mercer Island Weekly said there were deer spotted near Pioneer Park about the same time last year.
Has anyone else seen deer on the Island this year? And more importantly, has anybody ever seen a deer swim? I’d love to see some pictures of that, or at the least hear an elaborate description.
9 responses so far ↓
Joshua Putnam // September 14, 2008 at 6:52 am
Just browsed your blog after seeing lots of link-throughs to my helmet cam video on Flickr. As it happens, yes, I’ve seen deer on MI, and yes, I’ve seen deer swimming.
I grew up over on Vashon Island, and swimming deer weren’t all that uncommon. They sort of dog paddle, heads above water, legs churning away with very little splashing, you can hear their breathing more than their swimming. I’d be out in the boat fishing or just floating along, and there was a deer crossing the harbor or heading to the mainland.
Back in high school I saw a young deer that had been chased into the Sound by dogs, it was swimming for more than a mile and reached an area with continuous bulkheads, no beach to climb out on. It was clearly getting tired and tried to come ashore several times, finally I waded out to it and carried it up a flight of stairs to solid ground, the neighbors brought out a beach towel to dry it off since it was shivering from so much time in the water.
mercerislandblogger // September 16, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Thanks for the comment, Joshua. For those of us to whom swimming deer are new and baffling, any information is welcome. And your story about helping out a swimming deer is really nice.
If you ever managed to get a video of a deer swimming, I’d be indebted and in awe of you forever. Especially if the video were with your helmet cam.
Holly // October 18, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I haven’t seen any swimming deer, but we saw some in our backyard close to 90/E. Mercer Way a couple of weeks ago.
Mike Trenholm // January 9, 2009 at 8:30 am
I grew up on Mercer Island during the 70s and 80s and spent most of my childhood in the woods and never saw any deer. My dad still lives up by the Presbyterian Church and has saw a doe and a fawn twice on his street last fall.
April Linton // May 18, 2009 at 4:18 pm
I grew up on MI too, and never saw a deer. But my dad, who lives in the 8200 block of W. Mercer Way, saw a couple the other day. I too am wondering if they swam over – or perhaps were imported by residents. I doubt they walked over one of the bridges.
T Plain // August 12, 2009 at 10:17 am
My husband saw three deer this morning (a doe and two fawns) here at Shorewood Heights on Mercer Island. He spotted them in the meadow just north of the office. I went all around Shorewood hoping to spot them as well…no such luck, but I am keeping my eyes peeled. So exciting!!
mercerislandblogger // August 17, 2009 at 6:08 pm
They’re back! Wonder if we’ll have any more sightings of this group.
Adrian // September 9, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I just saw two different groups of deer on my regular evening walk. A family of 4, two adult females and two youngsters. Then I saw a very large female about half a mile away. Both sightings were on the east side of Island crest way just off the I-90 onramp. I figured I would see some in Upper Burbank park, but no luck.
Joe // November 15, 2009 at 6:45 pm
I saw deer in one the soccer field at St Monica school about 2 weeks ago, across the street from MIHS.