White-tailed deer at a birder's fingertips

The Story

A white-tailed deer stands in the snow at arm's length, big ears spread, eyes on the lens. Then it leans in and closes its mouth around a man's finger.

Nobody planned this. The filmer had gone into his local forest to look for birds, and chickadees were landing on his hand when the deer wandered into the shot, rear end first. Curious, it came in close, then took a finger into its mouth for a taste test. He let it.

Up close, the field marks are easy to read. There is the white band behind the black nose, the pale ring around each eye, the white lining of the ears and the white patch on the chin and throat. The coat is the grayish-brown of winter, long and thick, not the reddish tan of summer. There are no antlers, which in winter proves little: bucks shed theirs from mid-December to late January in Connecticut, and mostly in February and March in Missouri.

What makes the moment odd is the direction of travel. A whitetail that suspects a predator blows, forcing air hard through its nostrils to warn every deer nearby. It raises its tail as a white flag and can bound off through tangled forest at up to 30 miles per hour. This one walks toward the man instead.

The finger is not food. White-tailed deer are herbivores, and in winter they live on bark, buds and twigs. They eat fast, store the meal in the rumen, then bring it back up and chew it again before it moves on through further stomachs.

This deer is dressed for the season. In September whitetails molt into dense woolly underfur beneath long hollow guard hairs, and through autumn they lay down fat that by late fall can make up 10 to 25 percent of body weight.

Field Guide

A white-tailed deer in winter coat walks up to a birder with chickadees landing on his hand in a snowy forest and takes his finger in its mouth. Full field guide for the White-tailed deer

Habitat

• White-tailed deer live in many land habitats, from the big woods of northern Maine to Florida swamps, farmland, brushy country and the thornbrush deserts of southern Texas.Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan
• An "edge" species, the whitetail thrives where openings meet cover, feeding in the open close to the dense thickets it hides and escapes in.Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife · Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan
• This deer is out in snowy woods in winter. In Maine, deer wintering cover is mainly closed-canopy softwood stands that intercept snow, lowering snow depth and easing travel.Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

Behavior

• In this clip
  This deer walks toward a person. An alarmed whitetail does the reverse: it blows, forcing air through its nostrils to warn every deer nearby, and raises its tail as a white flag.Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife · Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection
• In this clip
  The finger this deer mouths is not food. In winter white-tailed deer browse bark, buds and twigs; through the year they also eat leaves, fruits, nuts, grasses and crops.Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation · Missouri Department of Conservation
• A ruminant, the whitetail eats rapidly and stores food in its rumen, then regurgitates and re-chews it before passing it through further stomachs.Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Whitetails feed mainly from before dawn until several hours after, and again from late afternoon until dusk.Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan

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