(Iowa DNR News) – The calls have been coming in to field offices and conservation officers for the past few weeks and will only increase as the first few weeks of June marks the peak of the deer fawning season. Callers report finding an “abandoned” fawn in an unusual place, like a flowerbed or small patch of cover. Rest assured this is normal deer behavior. “The doe searches out an isolated location where she feels safe and on occasion those places are not what we may think of as ideal. She chose that location because it made sense to her,” said Jim Coffey, forest wildlife research biologist with the Iowa DNR. “The worst thing someone can do is to ‘rescue’ the fawn. Mom is likely nearby and watching you. Leave it be or if you did handle the fawn, return it to where you found it and walk away.”

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will not be rehabbing or co-mingling fawns with other deer to avoid the potential of spreading chronic wasting disease – or other disease – to new areas. The spindly legged newborn fawn is designed with a few survival tools built in – it is born without scent to avoid predators and its spots are cryptic camouflage that emulates the sunlight spots on the leaf litter in the timber. It will lay motionless to avoid detection and may remain in the area for up to two weeks all while under the care of the doe. After the fawns are born, the doe will return to fairly normal behavior – sleeping, feeding – but returning to nurse and care for the fawn.

The fawning season also coincides with an increase in deer vehicle collisions. “There is a lot of movement this time of year that is part of the social structure of deer. The doe is on the move looking for the safe isolated place to have the fawns.  In addition last year’s fawns – teenagers now – are starting to venture out to find new space. These yearlings have to make their own decisions for the first time, encounter other adult deer and build new social structures,” Coffey said. “This movement behavior can occur during all times of the day. Once it settles out, the active time will return to dawn and dusk.”

Drivers are reminded to drive defensively, avoid distractions, slow down and not to veer for deer. If they hit a deer, drivers can get a salvage tag by calling either the local conservation officer or local law enforcement. There is no fee for a salvage tag it does require that the entire deer is taken.

(Radio Iowa) – If the skies are clear, a partial solar eclipse will be visible over Iowa tomorrow (Thursday) morning. The moon is at its farthest point from the earth so it’s an “annular” eclipse as it won’t completely cover the sun. Linda Burkhart, director of the Sanford Museum and Planetarium in Cherokee, says other parts of the country will have a better view but it’ll still be interesting to see. “What people in Iowa are seeing is called a partial eclipse, only a bite of the sun will disappear for us,” Burkhart says. “If you live west of Des Moines, that bite gets smaller and smaller and smaller and where we are, sunrise will be at 5:40 and the partial eclipse that we are able to see ends at 5:45.”

She says areas to the east-northeast of Des Moines will see bigger sections of the sun fall into shade. Burkhart reminds, don’t look directly at the sun, but use eclipse-specific glasses or a pinhole viewer, so as not to risk eye damage. She notes there are other things to see in the sky this month. “If you look over in the west-northwest corner of the sky, you can see Venus and Mars in the early evening, about an hour after sunset,” Burkhart says. “Then, in the morning sky, if you look in the south-southwest corner of the sky, you’ll see Jupiter and Saturn.”

June 20th is the first day of summer and marks the summer solstice, a day where there will be equal parts of light and darkness. After the 20th, we’ll start to lose a little bit of light each day.

The Iowa Department of Public Health (Wednesday, June 9th) reported 141 additional, positive cases of COVID-19 from over the previous 24-hours. The Coronavirus dashboard shows there are a pandemic total of 402,747 positive cases, and five additional deaths, for a pandemic total of 6,078. Deaths at Iowa’s Long-Term Care facilities are 2,370.

There remain four LTC outbreaks in Iowa, with 30 positive cases among patients and staff, and one person recovered. Iowa’s 14-day positivity rate is down to 1.9%, while the 7-day positivity rate is holding steady at 2.0%.

Iowa’s hospitalization data show: 85 people are hospitalized with COVID-19; 18 patients are in an ICU; 16 COVID patients were admitted to a hospital, and eight patients are on a ventilator. In RMCC Region 4 (hospitals in western & southwest Iowa), there are now three people hospitalized with COVID-19, and one person in an ICU. There was one person admitted over the previous 24-hours, and no one was on a ventilator.

In the immediate KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County (since the beginning of the pandemic) and the total number of deaths (Since the beginning of the pandemic) in each county to date:
Cass, 1,477 cases; 54 deaths
Adair, 993; 32
Adams, 355; 4
Audubon, 546; 10
Guthrie, 1,311; 32
Harrison County, 1,935; 73
Madison County, 1,787; 19
Mills County, 1,797; 24
Montgomery, 1,115; 38
Pottawattamie County, 12,337;173
Shelby County, 1,373; 37
Union County, 1,380; 35