The woods were virtually silent Wednesday as I was trying to pick my way through an off-trail patch. Then, there came some very unwoods-like sounds behind me – “scruch, scrutch, scrutch.” The strange sounds raised in me the involuntary fear that always comes with knowing someone or something is very near and secretly watching. I slowly turned around.
And, there she was: a white-tailed deer that was within 30 feet of me. She also apparently had felt an uncontrollable sensation – probably a stinging bite – which made her instinctively scratch herself and continue to do so as I watched. When she finished scratching, she stood up and looked at me with a “Who-do-you-think-you’re-looking-at?” attitude. Then, she dashed away with a flick of her white tail.
The beauty of these animals makes it easy to forget that they’re cafeterias for hordes of nasty little creatures. Over 100 species of internal and external parasites are known to be hosted by white-tailed deer, including biting insects such as black-legged ticks (“deer ticks,” which are vectors for Lyme disease in humans), bot flies, horse flies, and mosquitoes. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on August 24, 2022.)