How does one apologize. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . .  to a wild creature who visits the garden?

I have no idea, however, here and now, I am apologizing profusely to 'Ms. Jane DOE' 

(as we've named our pretty young lady deer - see previous post) for putting

 the entire blame on her for the destruction of the sunflowers!

Yesterday afternoon:  sunny, humid, late day storms all around us but fortunately

 we escaped high winds and quarter-sized hail. Not a deer in sight but more sunflowers

 were literally struck down, when we weren't looking, by some animal chewing 

through the thick stalks - about 12" up from the ground. 

The flower heads/seeds that hit the ground had been chewed up, gobbled down,

 spit out. . . . . and only defoliated stems and piles of yellow petals remained.

We began to rethink the culprit.

Here he is, maybe one of several who hang about our garden. . . . . . . . and this

 is where I saw him early this morning when I first looked out the window. 

(By now, you must think I spend my entire day looking out the window with a 

camera in hand - I admit I sometimes do).

More smaller flower stems were on the ground, however the thickest stalks

 were still standing and there he (or perhaps she) was, clambering about on

 the leafy stems, reaching for the seed-filled heads and having a

 healthy/hearty breakfast.  

I know the deer come through at night - I see their hoof prints - they may

 even have a nibble on the sunflowers on their way, but I now really don't think

 they've eaten all the sunflowers this summer, squirrels have definitely had more

 than their share!

Will I plant sunflowers next year?
Of course I will - but I'll have to buy seeds as I've not been
 able to rescue any from this summer's crop.

Sunday in the wildlife 'park'. . . . . . . . . .

This morning's visitor to the bird feeder!

I raised the dining room blinds and there she stood, so beautiful and silent,

staring right at me - fortunately my camera was on the table and I managed

a few shots.

Last year, I shared photos here of a somewhat younger (spots on rump) visiting
 white-tailed doe. 
She had scars from a fresh injury on her right side above her front leg and up

 her neck. My friend Gina noticed them in the photos and thought perhaps she

 had been hit by a car. Be certain to visit Gina's amazing blog Art and Alfalfa 
if you haven't done so yet. It's so beautiful where she lives and she is a lovely, 
multi-talented artist.

Looking closely, I'm thinking the now faint marks on her fur below the sunflower

 leaves, in the same area, could be the healed scars. If so, I'm so happy she has

 survived. . . . . . . even though she's gobbling up the garden!

After realizing I'd seen her, she moved on across the lawn, took a quick

 nibble at the hydrangea plant behind the acer. . . . . . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . . then trampled through the now almost dead sunflowers which she's

 enjoyed, and destroyed, for a couple of weeks. . . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . .on to my neighbor Bob's tomatoes where she nibbled the

 leaves. I picked all the ripe fruits yesterday - he's away and gave me

 permission to take any or all rather than have them rot. . . . . lucky me.

At that point I opened the door and told her to leave. Here she is

taking such dainty steps across the road to a neighbor next to

 the wooded area of the cul-de-sac. We think perhaps she hangs

 out there where there is a small creek for a water source.

Remember now, we don't live in the countryside. These deer and other

 wildlife are losing their natural homes due to land being built on all around us. 

They have nowhere else to go. We've lived in this house 32 years

 and never saw a deer in our garden until just a couple of years ago when

 construction took off big time.

Close by, we now have office towers, retail shops, apartments, condos, 

and huge high-priced houses where small ranch homes used to stand

in our neat and tidy, heavily wooded neighborhood.

Apparently it's called 'progress' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .