Reflections on Nature: Daylight Saving Time Coincides with Deer Peak Hours | News, Sports, Vacancies

The Pennsylvania Game Commission advised motorists to slow down and remain vigilant as deer become more active. The end of daylight saving time on Saturday resulted in increased vehicle traffic between dusk and dawn, coinciding with peak deer activity hours.

Deer become more active in the fall, leading up to the fall breeding season, commonly called the rut. Around this time of year, many yearling males leave the areas where they were born and travel, sometimes several dozen miles, in search of new habitats. Adult males often wander around their habitats in search of females. If a doe is encountered, the buck will sometimes chase it.

While I’m driving, Mary Alice often reads or does crossword puzzles, but at night, when driving home on Highway 14, she’s always on the lookout for deer that might be on or near the road.

All nocturnal animals have what is called a bright eye, caused by Tapetum lucidum, a Latin word meaning bright tapestry. This tapetum lucidum, located behind the retina, reflects light back through the retina, enhancing the animal’s excellent night vision. When artificial light shines into an animal’s eyes, the eyes appear to glow.

While deer’s eyes are yellow, dogs and cats’ eyes are green, coyotes are green-gold, opossums are dull orange, skunks are amber, and foxes are white. I’ve never read the following in books or magazines, but an old raccoon hunter once told me that a male raccoon’s eyes glow red and a female raccoon’s eyes glow yellow. He went on to say that this only applies to adults.

Most nocturnal animals have keen senses of hearing, touch, smell and night vision. There are some animals, such as the bat with its radar hunting, that have additional abilities. The Great Horned Owl uses its ears to search for prey. This owl’s ears are located on the facial disc, with one ear positioned higher on the head than the other. A great-horned owl must turn its head until both ears detect the same decibel of sound.

It is at this point that the owl will look at whatever is making the noise and be able to see its prey.

Nocturnal animals use the same space and eat the same food as diurnal animals. During the day, insect-eating birds feed on butterflies while drinking nectar. At night, the nightjar family (poorpoorwills and nighthawks) feed on nectar-drinking moths and other insects.

Some animals, such as mice and voles, are nocturnal not because they see better at night, but because they feel safer and are more hidden from predators. Hawks search for rodents and small mammals during the day, and owls take over the hunting at night.

Most diurnal animals, including humans, do not have this tapetum, so our night vision is mediocre compared to those animals that are active at night. Our night vision is enhanced when we are in complete darkness. After about 30 minutes in the dark, a person achieves optimal night vision.

However, if we turn on a flashlight or light a cigarette, our night vision becomes limited. The US Army says it takes 30 minutes for a person to regain better night vision.

When using flash to take photographs, the person’s eyes may appear red in the photograph. Since we humans don’t have tapetum in our eyes, this redness of the eyes occurs when a flash illuminates the blood vessels in the back of our eyes. If the flash source is something other than a camera flash, red-eye will not occur.

I’m sure you’ve all heard someone say “they had a deer in the headlights” look. It describes a man so stunned that he cannot move, his eyes wide open and at a loss for words.

The light shining on a deer’s eyes at night confuses it and the images become blurry. Often the deer will just stand there. However, if the deer runs away after the light hits its eyes, night vision will immediately return.

Hunting deer at night with a flashlight is prohibited. In Pennsylvania we call it jacklighting. The term dates back to colonial times when people would hunt deer at night. Since there were no flashlights, the hunters lit baskets with pine knots, which burned brighter and longer than other knots.

As a wildlife officer, I spent many nights watching floodlights cross the sky. Most of the time the flashes in the sky were just families looking for deer. However, every now and then I would catch a jacker and get arrested.

Animals are not the only creatures whose eyes sparkle. There are fish, especially pike perch, that have a white shine to their eyes. Some species of spiders have an eye shine, however this eye shine is not a result of Tapetum lucidum.

Humans have copied this nocturnal eye glare found in animals by creating reflectors that glow when light hits them to help us drive safely at night. This is just one of the many things we have copied from the wild.

Bill Bauer is a retired wildlife officer for the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Read his blog and listen to his outdoor podcasts at www.onemaninggreen.com.