November 29, 2020

This chapter describes the pumpkins in the author's backyard, several of which have been smashed open and eviscerated. During the morning, a squirrel visited and started to pick out pumpkin seeds from a partially eaten fruit. However, the author's main suspect is deer, specifically the local group of white-tailed deer that holes up in the wild area to the south of their estate. The author then turns to the cardinals. Although they cannot feed directly from the bird feeders, they forage avidly for seeds spilled onto the ground by messy feeders above. The author is confident that the cardinals have contributed to the many discarded sunflower seed shells beneath their feeder.