Another piebald deer stops by a trail camera for a photo

Mar. 23—Over the weekend I predicted the inevitable: In the wake of the Bangor Daily News publishing a photo of a piebald deer (or two), we'd surely have another photo (or two) to share come Monday.

That's just the way it works, and as it turns out, I was right. Today, Ross Nadeau's photo of a visiting piebald deer in Topsham is our featured photo, right on schedule.

Nadeau's photo illustrates the various degrees of piebaldity (OK, I think I made up that word) that exist in the natural world. While Jeremy Clark's photo from last week shows a deer that's almost entirely white, Nadeau's deer looks to be roughly half brown and half white.

As we established last week, none of these deer are "albinos," though many will still insist on attaching that label. Deer biologist Nathan Bieber of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife explained that in order for a deer to be piebald, both of its parents must carry the recessive piebald gene.

Some hunters believe that shooting a piebald (or albino) deer is bad luck, and should be avoided. Others — I'd count myself in this club — say they'd rather appreciate such a rare specimen and let it walk than to fill their tag by shooting one.

I'd be curious to hear where you stand on that issue.

And while we're talking about rare critters, I'm still waiting to receive a trail cam photo of a real Maine mountain lion. And a sasquatch, for that matter.

Keep those cool photos coming!

Do you have a trail camera photo or video to share? Send it to jholyoke@bangordailynews.com and tell us "I consent to the BDN using my photo." In order to prevent neighbors from stopping by to try to tag particularly large bucks, moose or bears, some identities and towns of origin may be omitted.