Oh, Deer

CAROL ANN HARLOS

Like many gardeners, I feed the birds, especially during the winter when they have to contend with less food, fewer places to hide, and sudden storms. I have made a point of keeping my eight feeders clean to avoid possible salmonella bacteria contamination that can lead to bird illness or death. I purchase high quality bird seed: black oil sunflower seed, an occasional bag of striped sunflower seed to slow down the blue jays, and nyjer seed for the sparrows and finches. I bought a squirrel-proof suet feeder and delighted in watching birds getting the needed fat and the squirrels trying unsuccessfully to get it! I also purchased a feeder that holds dried Tenebrio beetle larvae (also called grubs or meal worms) to increase the protein content of the bird’s diet.

I joined Project FeederWatch, which means watching, counting, and recording birds beginning in November and ending in April. The birds I have been counting visit my feeders, but other participants observe birds at nature centers or other locations. Data is collected and sent to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I love that “citizen

scientists” can collect data enabling scientists to look for trends in bird numbers and species. For example, my bird feeders have many dark eyed juncos, which I understand have been suffering population decreases.

Dear readers, this has been such a joy.

Then I started noticing deer scat in the driveway. My next-door neighbor sent me a text showing deer eating bird seed (deer prefer the sunflower seeds to the nyjer) from the feeders. This is bad in so many ways. First it takes food from the birds. It encourages deer to come to the yard, which means they may be drawn to other deerluscious plants on the property. In addition, sunflower hulls are not well digested by deer as there is a chemical compound in the hull that inhibits digestion in deer and sometimes leads to compaction. Also, white tailed deer can harbor ticks, which you probably already know carry Lyme Disease. Deer can run into streets leading to car accidents. Yikes!

What to do? (Did I ever tell you about me throwing snow at the deer in the backyard wearing boots and my Victoria Secret pajamas? They just looked at me. See the crazy lady! In case you have a certain image of the writer, the pajamas were red flannel.) Then, I got sensible. I emptied out the sunflower feeders and kept them empty for two weeks. I cleaned up seeds that had fallen on the ground. Then I bought a large bottle of hot sauce and mixed it into fresh sunflower seed...not too much, as the seed shouldn’t be damp or it will support bacteria and fungi. The birds can’t taste the capsaicin but the deer can. Problem solved. FY

I love to hear from my readers: caharlos@verizon.net