I spotted this White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) this past Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge as it carefully made its way across one of the small streams that crisscross the refuge.
This deer was lagging behind a small group of four deer that I initially spotted. That group pretty quickly and I was not really ready for them, so my photos were not that good. I was quite happy when this final deer appeared and I was able to get some shots. I couldn’t tell for sure how stable the footing was where the deer was crossing, but the deer did appear to be very careful as it chose places to place its feet.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
The sequence looks like:
“Oh, you’re taking my picture. Here, let me stand up straight…”
Great capture, Mike.
Lovely series of shots.
Thanks, Laura.
That looks like quite a tangle of branches. I’m surprised it didn’t just swim across.
I don’t think the water was deep enough for actual swimming, but who knows. At first I thought the deer was crossing on a fallen tree, but probably it was just a mass of tangled branches.