Mystery of the Missing Bird Seed.....SOLVED!

So for the past few weeks, the weather has been warming up, and we started to fill our backyard bird feeders again. I couldn't believe that 3/4 of one would be gone overnight! At this rate, I'm going to be poor from buying bird seed...even though we get a huge bag from Costco! I've only seen the little birds come and eat at it...and sometimes they can be quite picky. I think that they only go for the sunflower seeds, and the rest goes onto the ground. I didn't think that was too bad, since the little chipmunks can collect the seeds off the ground, along with the squirrels. We have the feeders on hooks and not hanging off a tree branch, so the squirrels cannot get to it that easily (unlike one of the other houses close by....they hang theirs off of a tree branch, and we watch as the squirrels try and get at it, and leave their feeder in a mess...hee heee). So anyways, we were trying to figure out how the little birds can really go through that much seed so quickly.....in the meantime, I just kept filling it up at every opportunity...I love seeing the birds and chipmunks in the backyard.

Early this morning, Husband woke me up and asked if I wanted to see a deer in the backyard. Of course I couldn't pass up this opportunity!! Since we've been here, I've only seen 2 deer, and we back onto woods, so I thought that I would be seeing them more often. I look out into the backyard, and the deer was licking at the bird feeder!!!! So THAT'S why the feed has been disappearing so quickly! Upon closer inspection, I see another deer! It was still quite dark outside, and the deer still had their greyish winter coat on, so it was difficult to see...that and I couldn't find my glasses this morning, but I didn't want to waste the time looking for them in case the deer ran off. So there they were, a big deer and a little deer. The little one was licking from the bird feeder while the big one was eating a lot of seed off the ground. They wandered back into the woods when they were satisfied...not running off, just a gallivanting back to where they came from. After my morning routine, I went out to check the feeders, and sure enough, one was completely empty, and the other only had 1/5 left. The deer left me some of their winter fur in the grass...maybe that's to thank me for the seed. I'll have to fill it up again for them, since it's cooled down this week. They are probably struggling to find food. Hmmm...that reminds me...I've wanted to try dipping pine cones in peanut butter and then rolling it in bird seed. Maybe this is the perfect time to do so. That might be the project I take on for tomorrow.