Eight Deer, Santa Missing

Out in the NE Woods Friday 16 Dec on the new Tree Trail I spotted eight white-tail deer together (yearlings and does) moving north along the border of the field and then dashing away west into the Woods.. no jolly rotund man in red suit.
After 33/100 inch of rain Tues-Wed Dec 13-14 the E and W ponds both register 2.0 feet depth. The W. Wash is filled with water but dry just before the Elm Bridge. No signs of turtles or other large creatures in the ponds. Lots of tracks of deer and raccoons in soft sand at the Elm Bridge.
With all the leaves down, the Woods are LOUD with the sounds of traffic on Hwy 9.. nothing to buffer and damp the sound.

Russell and I out Sunday 18 Dec 4 PM blue painting tops of steel posts in Woods to facilitate spotting. Spot another couple deer and hear a dog barking (at us) in the dense brier patch between the two dune trails. On the Tree Loop, Russell spotted a big Meloe oil or blister beetle.. just the posterior wiggling, sticking straight up out of a pencil-width vertical hole in a mound of soft soil. Remarkable that a large beetle like that is out exploring in mid December.

We also met two folks (non-university?) inside the NE Gate collecting natural items in a zip lock bag for decorations.
On the Main SW Trail someone (mouse?) is chewing on small (1/4" diam) surface roots from an elm by the dry deepest pool along the trail. Maybe they've found some attractive fungi growing there? Nearby blue-taped 50 meter cedar post marker has become a fecal marking focus for a larger animal .. coyote? coon? Need Nick to I.D.
In the center of the Woods, scores of robins were busily foraging in the leaves on the forest floor before the arrival of Monday's predicted storm. It was warm enough (58 F) that a few muscoid/calliphorid flies and noctuid moths were flying.

The soil surface along the Main SW Trail is remarkable now. Where flowing water has pushed away the thicker deposits of new fallen leaves, the light rains this week have beaten the underlaying organic duff and left a soft airy blanket on the forest soil.