Image ID 102500 Premium Services    White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Hand-colored lithograph by Joseph Smit from his painting From: Richard Lydekker, The Deer of All Lands: A History of the Family Cervidae Living and Extinct (London, 1898) NYPL, General Research Division

The Dutch-born artist Joseph Smit (1836/7–1929/30), who became one of England’s foremost zoological painters, delineated this White-tailed buck at the London Zoo.

White-tailed Deer are widely distributed throughout the continent. Because of distinct differences between the various populations, some mammalogists recognize 16 subspecies, with the White-tails of the Northeast designated as Odocoileus virginianus borealis, meaning "northern."

Deer are seen occasionally in the woodlands of Van Cortlandt and Pelham Bay parks, and now and then elsewhere. In 1996 a doe was spotted on a Washington Heights street, then in Fort Tryon Park. She was eventually captured, and relocated upstate. In December 2001 a deer visited Van Cortlandt House, at the edge of the park near Broadway, and was eventually chased by police back into the woods.

Check out the sighting log to record your interaction with some of the native New York City wildlife, such as the White-tailed Deer, featured in Urban Neighbors. You may also browse the sighting log by animal, borough, park or natural area, and/or habitat to view a sighting you have submitted or to read others’ observations.