Hungry animals

We have had some interesting animal behavior around here today. My husband noticed a dead armadillo by the driveway when he came home for lunch today. It wasn't there when he left for work this morning, so we assume someone hit it on the driveway between 7:30 AM and noon today. He had hit one a few weeks ago on the driveway late one night. Something obliged us by carting it off after a couple of days. This new "driveway kill" was still there when I returned home from Baton Rouge this afternoon. It is being guarded by a lone buzzard. I am hoping something will haul the carcass off during the night.

Later on during the afternoon, my husband spotted three deer grazing out beyond the house. We watched them for awhile, and I got the binoculars and studied them. I never could determine if they were does or bucks, but they did seem thin and they ate like they were hungry. We are used to seeing deer grazing on the grounds all the time. They take a couple of bites and then look around. They also keep moving as they graze. These three grazed like cows with their heads down, chomping away without looking up or moving around except to move a bit for more grass. Clearly they were hungry. It is hard to understand skinny, hungry deer with a large green pasture and hayfield a few hundred yards away, and thousands of acres of corn less than a quarter of a mile away.

Right now some of the prairie areas at Kalorama are in full bloom with Liatris, also known as Blazing Star or Gayfeather. It is one of the showiest of all prairie species and is wildly attractive to butterflies.