I photographed a deer watching a crow as the bird made a racket overhead. Other deer in the area ignored the noise, but this young white-tailed doe kept her gaze on the bird.
The crow added some noise to the scene, and the doe gave me something to photograph.
A Young Deer Watching a Crow
The crow perched above the doe and called out. She raised her head and watched it while the other deer showed no interest.
That difference caught my attention. Several deer shared the area, but they did not all respond to the bird the same way. This young doe kept looking toward the source of the noise.
It would be easy to describe her as curious. However, I could not tell what she thought about the crow. I could see her looking up, and I knew the bird was making a racket. Anything beyond that would be my interpretation.
Calling this encounter “a deer bird-watching” seemed like a fitting description of the scene.
Photographing the Doe’s Upward Gaze
In my photograph, the doe holds her head high with her nose pointed toward the trees. Her raised chin and upright ears show the pose that drew my attention.
The crow sits outside the frame, so the photograph captures the doe’s side of the encounter.
One Doe’s Response to a Noisy Bird
This encounter gave me a clear example of a deer looking up. It does not explain how often deer do this or why another deer might ignore the same sound.
For this photograph, the story was simple: a crow made noise overhead, and one young doe watched.