Columbian black-tailed deer
Odocoileus hemionus columbianus
Odocoileus hemionus columbianus
It seems that all the fashionable nature blogs are featuring deer this fall season, so I thought I'd join in on the game.
Does and fawns are regular visitors, but this is the first time we've ever seen a full-grown buck on our side of the Monterey Peninsula, let alone in our driveway in the 4 1/2 years we've lived here. The horned fellas usually seem to stay on the ocean side around Asilomar and Del Monte Forest, where there are reports of a pet-eating mountain lion every few years. In fact, some people put up posters in their yard saying, "Go away, mountain lion!" as if the big cat could read sharpie and crayola home-made signs. OK, I live in a funny, little town.
This guy looks kind of young, no? The sun was just coming up, so my pics are a bit dark. Plus, I wasn't too eager to head down the stairs to get a closer look and collect greens for my caterpillars, as I've heard the bucks can attack women unprovoked. It's probably local lore, yet I wasn't about to take my chances.
I believe I have finally correctly ID'd this local deer down to subspecies. According to the USGS, there are 11 subspecies of Odocoileus hemionus. For a nice summary of black-tailed deer by Keith Smith, click on the scientific name above. There's much debate about names and subspecies. Mule deer seems to be a generally accepted common name for O. hemionus. I still don't quite understand the antler descriptions between the species/subspecies, but I picked pics to show off this fella's antler shape and huge ears. Interesting to note for those of you not from around here, the common North American white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is apparently not found in California. I'd appreciate hearing if anyone knows of better information.
ps 11/21/10 - For more information on male mule deer, check out this blog post from It's Time to Live. They definitely look different than what's around here.
10 comments:
That's a beautiful Deer.
In your driveway?! Cool!
Oh, he's gorgeous! He looks so sweet and soft - hard to imagine him on the attack, but I'm sure it happens. Nice antler rack too!
Cool!!!! We have an antler that an obliging visitor shed in our backyard one day some yrs ago, before we raised the fence....
Thank you, Bob.
Graeme, he stayed a while and then trotted up the road when the recycling truck came by.
twg, I have a healthy respect for anything bigger than me.
Janet, the higher fence is probably a good idea for your garden. People around here go to great lengths to keep the deer out of their yards.
Yep, another rose got neatly "snipped" from our unfenced front yard last night...the repellant only works when its not raining!
Good looking buck.
Janet, it sounds like you use that egg-white based spray that our state parks use.
Joe, this guy is much darker than the tan does we saw a few days earlier. I'm still trying to figure out tines.
I had no idea there were so many subspecies of our mule deer. Or that they were also called black-tailed deer.
Brad, it's always nice to hear someone else discovered something new from my blog, too. It looks like many of the subspecies have to do with location. However, a book I have says the coast black-tailed are smaller, darker, and have different tail and rump markings than what can be found in the Sierra Nevada. Who knew!?!
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