"Tank"

Trail cameras are still running heavy in Purcellville and other parts of Western Loudoun by two of my favorite volunteers, Paige and Peter.  We've been getting all sorts of results, though bobcat and coyote activity have seemed to slow down recently out there.

The biggest excitement with the Purcellville cameras has been images of "Tank". He's a white-tailed deer buck that has been growing an impressive set of antlers. Peter named him, of course, and the name is not only fitting, but has stuck well for the past month or so.

Here is "Tank", one of the biggest bucks around this year.   It's hard to tell from this image, but there are (what we think and have seen in other images) 12 points on his antlers.  It'll be interesting to see if Peter is able to hunt this beast this year.

Tank is the closest deer, followed by two other impressive bucks behind him.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Like two fat kids fighting over the last piece of pie, these two hawks were all about getting the last bite of a good meal.  This meal was that of a dead deer though, in Leesburg, VA.

The real point of putting the camera-trap over a deer body was to see if any coyotes were around.  They were not.

Black vultures, crows, ravens, and hawks filled up multiple SD cards here though with over 25,000 images taken over a period of three weeks.

Check out the hawk acrobatics below!

In usual "Brian Fashion" the time/date stamp was set incorrectly.

One Antlered Deer

Here's an interesting white-tailed deer missing one of his antlers.

It's early for bucks to be losing their deciduous antlers.  Really early.  In most cases around here, they drop their antlers during the last week of January to the last week of March.  It's interesting, for sure, but stranger things have happened in the outdoors.

A Unique Squirrel

First off, I'd like to thank friend Nelson for sharing the picture below with me and for agreeing to have it posted on my blog.  I always enjoy when friends ask me about local wildlife.

This squirrel is unlike any squirrel I have ever seen before.  The above image was taken in McLean, Virginia.  From what I can tell, it is a gray squirrel that is in a black phase or morph.

Gray squirrels are very common here in Virginia.  Gray squirrels that are black only make up a small percentage of the gray squirrel population.  This one however, is very different because of the white-tipped tail.  Have you ever seen anything like this?

Hopefully it sticks around for more pictures.

Thanks for sharing Nelson!

Why Do White-Tailed Deer Fawns Have White Spots?

Someone asked me this at one of my parks/wildlife jobs a few days ago, and I thought it would also be nice to put the answer on this blog.

Fawns (baby deer) have white spots on their backs. Take a look at the picture below from this past month.

The answer to this question is that fawns have spots because it helps them camouflage better in the woods.  

Fawns spend a lot of time laying down in grass and leaves that are under canopies of trees.  Sunlight comes through these trees in beams that make bright splotches on the forest floor.  The brown color of the deer's fur and the white splotches look similar to brown leaves and dirt mixing in with the sunlight that hits the forest bottom.

Summer Fawn

Spring is done and summer is upon the people and wildlife of Virginia.  We've had a couple of really hot and humid days here already, and today wasn't much of an exception.

The heat has begun, and the white-tailed does are out in full force eating grasses in meadows and tomato plants in your suburban garden.  

That's alright though because the does are working hard to produce enough nourishment for the fawns that have recently been born.

Even though northern Virginia has a ridiculous amount of white-tailed deer, it still is always satisfying to see fawns growing up throughout the rest of the year.

Antler Growing Season

It's antler growing season (and will be for the next couple of months) for white-tailed deer.  They'll grow them out, shed their velvety coat, and use them for battle in the winter.  Like spears, the antlers on the tops of white-tailed bucks heads are used for display and fighting.

Proper nutrition and genetic makeup is necessary for growing the biggest pair.

Here's one little buck starting that has been already growing his antlers since a few weeks ago.

Piebald Deer Again

Everyone seems to enjoy looking at the video that I posted recently of the piebald buck.  People have emailed and told me that they want to see more.

Also, in some workplace environments, streaming video online is not allowed or blocked completely.  I figured I would take some snapshots of the video and put them in this post so that more people could enjoy them.

Piebald Buck

Undisclosed Location, Loudoun County, Virginia.

A piebald buck is a male deer that has a different colored coat than most other white-tailed deer.  It contains white splotches, patches, or markings and sticks out like a sore thumb in the woods.  It is a rarity among most white-tailed deer populations.

I've dedicated a few cameras to get photographs of piebald deer in locations where they have been seen in Great Falls, Virginia, but did not expect to see one at all when I checked a camera in Loudoun County. 

Such a beautiful deer!