Blacktails (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) are a subspecies of mule deer that we have here in the Northwest.
I nearly had a beautiful headshot of a fawn a few minutes later right as the sun was setting, I had seen a doe and her two fawns walking near the trail and waited to see if they would cross the trail. They did, and one of the fawns looked directly at me in the beautiful light, but it ended up being closer to me than expected and I had the wrong lens mounted on the camera. By the time I switched lenses the moment was gone.
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Backdrop
One of the great things about Hurricane Ridge is the ability to photograph the blacktails against the backdrop of the Olympic Range. This picture was taken in June, when the wildflowers had started appearing amidst the rapidly retreating snow.
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Incisors
Deer lack upper canine teeth but compensate by pinching vegetation against a calloused part of their mouth. This doe was eating the leaves of the blackberry bush by pressing the leaves to the roof of her mouth with her tongue and then pulling them off. She and her little ones were ignoring the other plants of the meadow at Elk Prairie and exclusively feeding on the blackberry leaves.
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My Oh My
A black-tailed fawn nibbles at the tops of huckleberry bushes. I like shots like this where the animal is partially hidden in its environment and was fortunate that not only is its eye visible but you can even see a bit of the white of its eye as it stretches to eat.
Watching this fawn and its sibling and mother started off one of my favorite hiking days where I spent the entire day on the Skyline Trail with stunning views of Rainier and the Cascades and deer and bears and marmots and pikas and ground squirrels and grouse and friendly people and my oh my but that was a fun trip. |
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Camera Shy
“Don't look now but Boolie’s taking our picture. I said don’t look!”
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| This doe was part of a group that came out at sunset on the Baskett Butte Trail at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge. |