{"id":138579,"date":"2025-01-08T02:39:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T08:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=138579"},"modified":"2025-07-07T10:34:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T15:34:53","slug":"oklahoma-tallgrass-prairie-white-tailed-deer-buck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/08\/oklahoma-tallgrass-prairie-white-tailed-deer-buck\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma Tallgrass Prairie White-tailed Deer Buck"},"content":{"rendered":"

On my first visit to Oklahoma’s Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, I saw and photographed quite a few White-tailed Deer, including this buck.<\/p>\n

The lighting was awful that first day, with leaden gray clouds blocking the sun. I tried to make the best of the light I had.<\/p>\n

\"White-tailedWhite-tailed Deer buck near a Cross Timbers forest edge \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f8, 1\/320, ISO 3200, Canon 100-400mm at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This eight-point buck was near the visitor center at the preserve<\/span><\/a> when I first saw him. He crossed the road and walked to the edge of the small Cross Timbers forest.<\/p>\n

When the White-tailed buck stopped, I managed to take several nice images of him standing in the tall grass with the forest behind him. Seconds later, I spotted a doe and two yearlings behind me and turned to photograph them.<\/p>\n

That? Was a bit of a mistake. I’ll explain below.<\/p>\n

\"OklahomaOklahoma tallgrass prairie White-tailed Deer buck \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f8, 1\/500, ISO 3200, Canon 100-400mm at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

What I didn\u2019t see, because I had turned around, was an Eastern Phoebe near the buck as he walked forward. That phoebe flew up, snatched a tick from the chin of the White-tailed Deer buck, and gobbled it down. The phoebe clearly knew it could get food, the tick, from the buck.<\/p>\n

My photo above shows the phoebe below the buck\u2019s chin. Can you spot it?<\/p>\n

My dear friend and wildlife photographer, Steve Creek, never took his eyes or focus off the buck. He managed to photograph the phoebe with the tick in its bill.<\/p>\n

To read more about Steve’s photo of the phoebe and white-tail buck see his post: A Remarkable Encounter: White-tailed Buck and Eastern Phoebe<\/span><\/a> on his site.<\/p>\n

I’m sorry I missed taking images of the phoebe getting the tick from the chin of the deer, but it delighted me that Steve was able to catch the action.<\/p>\n

I still have more White-tailed Deer photos to share from New Year’s Day at the preserve, when the light was much better. Another day…<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my White-tailed Deer photo plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On my first visit to Oklahoma’s Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, I saw and photographed quite a few White-tailed Deer, including this buck. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16119,13973,16120,1763],"tags":[4004,4184,16132,3801,14123,7037,5370,4109,16142,4062,1632,4456,14021,16143,7321,4233,14122,16126,16125,4076,13051,373],"class_list":["post-138579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-joseph-h-williams-tallgrass-prairie-preserve","category-oklahoma","category-osage-county","category-white-tailed-deer","tag-adult","tag-buck","tag-cross-timbers-forest","tag-deer","tag-eastern-phoebe","tag-edge","tag-forest","tag-grasses","tag-joseph-h-williams-tallgrass-prairie-preserve","tag-male","tag-mammals","tag-odocoileus-virginianus","tag-oklahoma","tag-osage-county","tag-phoebe","tag-prairie","tag-sayornis-phoebe","tag-tallgrass","tag-tallgrass-prairie","tag-trees","tag-white-tailed-deer","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t