Yesterday at 2:30 in the afternoon, my mother called me from the office to look out the kitchen windows. There were four deer shank to shank, heads down, eating the black oil sunflower seed that had fallen to the ground from the bird feeder.
\nEarlier this week we had a snowfall of six or seven inches. The ground is pretty well covered, so the wildlife has less to draw on to sustain themselves. I cleared the sidewalk, and then shoveled a path to the bird feeders. I’ve been putting out ear corn and mixed birdseed with a high black oil sunflower seed content, and I fill a silo feeder with chipped sunflower hearts.
\nIt’s unusual for us to have the deer visit during the day. Normally they are nocturnal, and their daytime visit might be a sign of their hunger. They were cautious, and nervous. At least one kept watch all the time while the others “hoovered” the ground. The ear corn was the least requested item on our menu yesterday, but even that was totally gone by this morning.
\nIt’s supposed to warm up and rain this coming week, but we plan to keep up a heavy feeding schedule. If I get the chance to photograph the deer, I’ll try to share the pictures with you.
\nUPDATE:
\nSaturday night…..the deer are back. I went to drop something in the trash, and realized two of the deer were less than 10 feet from me, with just the kitchen window between us. I held still, and their need to eat was stronger than the need to run. I slipped away, and they stayed. Dear Husband said….”Where there are two of them, there’s likely to be two more.” I’ll check again, later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yesterday at 2:30 in the afternoon, my mother called me from the office to look out the kitchen windows. There were four deer shank to shank, heads down, eating the black oil sunflower seed that had fallen to the ground … Continue reading