A deer “which appears to be playing chicken with a train” near McLean Station caused delays for Metro riders on the Silver Line early on Thursday morning, according to Rail Transit OPS, an independent account that evaluates WMATA.

https://twitter.com/RailTransitOPS/status/1060495272747433984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1060495272747433984&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Ftransportation%2F2018%2F11%2F08%2Fdeer-causes-delays-metros-silver-line%2F

Trains single-tracked between McLean and East Falls Church to avoid hitting the deer as employees tried to get the animal off the tracks. “The thing about deer is they can jump between tracks,” Rail Transit OPS noted on Twitter.

By around 7:20 a.m., the deer had exited Metro property. “This (hopefully) concludes Deer Delays (TM),” Rail Transit OPS tweeted. “Caution to cars on the Toll Road in this area, though…”

While deer on outdoor Metro tracks is not a particularly rare occurrence, over the summer a stag made its way into the Crystal City Metro station and pranced around on the platform for a bit before exiting.

https://twitter.com/wmata/status/1006526864276574213?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1006526864276574213&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdcist.com%2Fstory%2F18%2F06%2F12%2Fdeer-metro%2F

This post has been updated to reflect that Rail Transit OPS is not an official Metro account.