Breakfast Club

Other than filling the bird feeder in the winter months (once the bears are hibernating), we do not feed the wildlife that roams our place. There are just too many possible negative consequences for both sides in such a scenario. 

That doesn't mean the animals go hungry. The llamas are not very careful eaters and the bunnies and chukars know to hang out near the bowls at feeding time to pick up the spilled grits. They seem to tolerate each other with very little squabbling.

 This morning I rounded the house as I was leaving for my morning run and discovered this mule deer doe munching on the skunk sumac bush growing in the middle of a juniper. At first she seemed totally unconcerned by my presence, then she turned and looked at me as if to say, "Who, me??"

She looks as if she has been through a bit of a battle although she is certainly not starving. The skunk sumac all over our place has been infested with some kind of bug this year that has stripped almost all the leaves. I don't begrudge this gal finding a snack where she can.