Biology:

The Black-tailed Deer of the Pacific Coast is considered a subspecies of the Mule Deer. As its name suggests, the Black-tailed Deer's tail distinguishes this subspecies from other Mule Deer; the Mule Deer's tail has a black tip while the Black-tailed Deer's tail is black or brownish above, merging with the back's color.

Mule Deer including the Black-tailed Deer may be distinguished from the White-tailed Deer primarily by the tail color (no black on White-tailed Deer's tail) and by the buck's antlers: in the Mule Deer the antlers are branched equally, each a separate beam forking into 2 tines while the antlers of the White-tailed Deer has a forward main beam with unbranched tines growing back from the main beam.

Photographic notes:

December 2003. Photographed in Carmichael, Sacramento County, California.

Provia 100F, November 2004. Photographed in Carmichael, Sacramento County, California. The camera was on a tripod with minimum extension; by kneeling on the ground I was able to approach the deer more closely than if I had been standing.

2000. Photographed in Carmichael, Sacramento County, California.

Provia 100F, November 2004. Photographed in Carmichael, Sacramento County, California. In the deer's forested environment backgrounds are often cluttered with brush and trees. By using the maximum aperture of the lens I was able to blur the background to make it less distracting.

Kodachrome 200, November 2004. Photographed in Carmichael, Sacramento County, California.

Photographed in Carmichael, Sacramento County, California.

Photographed in Carmichael, Sacramento County, California.

Photographed in Carmichael, Sacramento County, California.