Under normal circumstances, deer give birth to one or two fawns per year. So to see a mama deer with triplets is a truly rare and special occurrence.
Well, we have fawn triplets in Philomath.
Ginger McMurtry, who lives up on North Ninth Street, spotted a black-tailed deer and her three fawns back on June 1 — she believes they must have been born around the last week of May. She took the photograph that you see here with this column.
“Our property has timber and meadows so it’s a prime habitat and refuge for deer,” Ginger said. “There are many around my home and this mom is one of the regulars that I see almost daily. Usually I see three sets of twins and a couple single births every year. So far, this year, I’ve seen a set of twins and this set of triplets.”
I tried to research just how rare triplets might be — the percentage is 12% to 14% in white-tailed deer, and it’s even more rare among black-tailed deer, one estimate suggesting about 1.5%. According to sources, this rarity is due to differences in habitat, genetics and the overall reproductive strategy of black-tailed deer, which evolved in more rugged, resource-variable environments compared to their white-tailed cousins.
Ginger sees deer regularly around the property.
“Some of my deer friends have been coming here for many years and I can sometimes identify them by various markings,” she said. “Just now there are two of last year’s babies who have sustained injuries to back legs — one I call ‘Three Foot’ and the other, ‘Limper’ — likely from automobiles. They are here regularly.”
Various conditions factor into the birth of triplets — the mother’s age and health, good habitat and food availability, as well as genetics.
“My husband and I have lived here on North Ninth since 1994 in a house we inherited from Jim’s mom, Minnie McMurtry, and the only other triplets I’ve seen was shortly after after my mother-in-law passed away in 1992 when I was nearly overrun by a spooked momma deer and her three babies,” Ginger said. “I’d stepped out of a back door just as they came around the corner, nearly running into me. Sadly, Jim passed away in May last year. He would have loved seeing these babies.”
Thank you, Ginger, for sharing.
2. Couldn’t decide on 1 logo
Last week in one of the graduation preview stories that I put together, I wrote about the inaugural winner of the Philomath Forward scholarship, which was established just this year by Anton Grube through a partnership with the Philomath Community Foundation.
In addition to the random selection of Mitchell Berklund as the winner (a digital spinning wheel was used to choose from among 24 applicants), Grube’s presentation at a high school assembly also included an announcement related to the scholarship’s logo.
Grube said that with the scholarship being new, he wanted to have a logo that could be used in various ways — perhaps on T-shirts or stickers or with promotional materials. So, he put together a logo design contest for Philomath High students.
“There were over 19 logos submitted and I will say, as well as the rest of the committee, we were blown away by the quality and creativity of the logos that were submitted,” Grube said. “Each student who has submitted a design will receive a thank you from me as well as a small token of appreciation. And there will be a grand prize award, which was $100 for the person who was selected for the logo.”
As it turned out, it was too difficult to choose a clear winner.
“The intent was to have one logo but after seeing the submissions and having the folks who were reviewing them … we decided that we would have three students selected and we will utilize their logos in a variety of different ways.”
Lucie Oster, Lacey Bacho and Elle Marchesi came up with the winning logos. Marchesi just graduated last weekend (in fact, she just happened to be one of the students I chose at random to interview for a story). Bacho and Oster will begin their senior years this fall.
3. ICC’s bell tower project continues
Back in early April, I wrote a story about the Independent Community Club’s efforts to rebuild the old schoolhouse’s front porch and bell tower. Located on the corner of Airport Avenue and Fern Road, this one-room schoolhouse was originally built in 1919.
“We have had a solid group of rotating volunteers that made it structurally possible to support the main roof area so we can rebuild from the bottom up,” Warren Lisser, a longtime volunteer with the ICC, told me earlier this month.
The organization has been thankful that a few businesses have stepped up to support the project. For example, Lisser said Columbia Concrete donated a crew to haul away old concrete walls and steps. Tom Murch Construction was to build the new concrete walls.
The historic schoolhouse’s exterior will also be painted.
“We’ll still need more donations to complete the bell tower and repaint the entire building,” Lisser said. “It should look just like it did in 1919.”
ICC will be hosting a community garage sale on June 21-22 (9 a.m.-4 p.m. both days) to raise money for the project. To donate items and for more information, call or text 541-602-1692 or 508-498-2989, or email ICCschoolhouse@gmail.com.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
