Tails, moults, & buds

 

A few days on the road have revealed patterns among cervids that were not readily apparent from the smaller sample that could be seen around my home.

First, all that I saw were moulting from their winter coat into their summer coat.

Second, the tails provided an indelible way to distinguish species.

White-tailed Deer show off both their strikingly large tail along with some patchy moulting on the hip.

A Mule Deer shows some patchy moulting and its rope-like tail with a black tip.

An elk shows a short white tail on a white butt, and a bit of moulting on its hip.

Finally, a male Mule Deer with tiny antler buds on its crown looks at me and asks the perennial question posed by other local animals: “Why are you pointing that camera at me?”

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