Recently the roe deer have been startling me with unexpected vocalizations and it can be difficult to determine their context because mostly I am hearing them from distance without being able to observe the whole setting (or even the individual producing the sound).
I have heard the ‘grunting’ sound that roe deer can sometimes make which is perhaps a type of a foraging sound because it has occurred outside of any social circumstances involving an individual by themselves.
However, this morning I heard a very strange sound on the other side of the river which I, eventually, had to attribute to a roe deer male because once that vocalization was over, the male – in that same location – began another vocalization which was also quite odd because it was not the typical patrolling bark but something more similar to a bark-howl.
These vocalizations might have been produced by the same individual who is altogether rather unique in his vocals (Roe deer observations (Apr 3 & Apr 16, 2024) – a male with a unique vocal pattern) but I cannot be certain of it.
At first, I thought I was hearing ducks.
The sound resembled less any snuffling/grunting by, e.g., roe deer or badger and it quite reminded me of the vocalizations ducks make when they have taken wing.
This sound was, however, made on the ground and away from bodies of water.
I listened in and the sound continued.
I was rather puzzled but I had to assume it was a mammal who was perhaps snuffling in search of food.
The sound continued for a long time (at least 1.5 minutes compared to the more usual < 0.5 min grunt) and the animal producing it was moving at a rather quick pace (contrary to, for example, foraging snuffle by hedgehogs who search for food in about the same spot).
It was almost as if the animal was tracking something having pushed its nose low to the ground (the way a dog would).
Then there was silence and after about 0.5 – 1 min, a roe deer male began vocalizing in the same area (within metres from where the first sound had ended).
I could not see any of the activity but apparently the long snuffle/grunt had been produced by the same roe deer male.
Generally, I do not really know yet why roe deer males snuffle/grunt at all.
They are not a species which forage for items that are frequently found on the ground or below ground.
However, currently, there is plenty of new growth (forbs, grasses, brambles) and perhaps, occasionally, when it is dark and/or in dark habitats, the roe deer might use olfactory cues to find forage on the forest floor level which might result in a snuffle.
Still, vegetation does not run away, and this individual was almost as if pursuing something that might not hold in place for long.
The snuffle was unidirectional and quick-paced.
It was not a snuffle of someone inspecting a general area but of someone following an almost straight line.
Do roe deer track other deer or do would they snuffle at the marks left by other species of interest (such as predators)?
The barking that ensued was not the typical territorial bark and there were no signs of conflict with an intruder (accordingly, the male might have been sniffing out some old traces of a former trespasser or the whole snuffling business might not have been about intruders at all).
Formerly, I have attributed this vocalization (bark-squeal/bark-howl) to communication by the males with females but if it were so, what was the male communicating to the female?
Was he informing her on some threat he had discovered?
In that area, cattle are grazed in an open pasture situation.
The cattle were let out last week – I heard them on the other side of the river.
At that time, the cattle were located slightly downstream but perhaps some of them might have ventured to the riparian area leaving some tracks.
Cattle might constitute competition or nuisance for the roe deer.
Whether there is neutrality or other type of attitudes involved in their relations, once the cattle appear on the landscape, roe deer routines and habitat use is probably altered.
It would be curious to assume that roe deer track other species much like canids do.
Notes by Ieva 