Deer at the Bird Feeder

This was not included in my threat model for the bird feeder seed trays:

The deer managed to unfurl enough tongue to reach over the edge, but the birds leave very few intact seeds and I suspect the result was just a mouthful of dry hulls.

The woods beyond that large tree is Vassar College territory, with its conspicuous lack of undergrowth due to the overly large deer population eating essentially everything. Vassar has an annual deer cull in the Preserve, but plenty of deer remain in the surrounding area and it’s not unusual to see six deer browsing in our yard.