Revenge of the animals

I’m incredibly squeamish and upset when it comes to hurting animals, as you may have surmised from my post about the ants.
Yesterday, the ants were still swarming around my kitchen, so I finally had to take drastic and horrible action. I filled the hole up much better using putty and spackle, then, sadly, killed the ants still in the house. I felt incredibly bad about it, and kind of wandered around in a daze afterward.

This morning, as if in solidarity with their insect brethren, a couple of animals tried to commit suicide with me as their unwilling killer.
First, yet another bird dove in front of my car. I don’t think I hit it, although it was out of sight under my bumper. I almost swerved into incoming traffic, first when it was in front of me, then when I tried to look behind me to see if it was hurt. I saw it flying behind me, swirling around dazed — but I don’t think I hit it. This happened on Beach Drive right by the zoo, where it’s happened several times before. I can’t understand why the birds there swoop down onto the road in front of vehicles instead of flying over them.

Then, another mile down the road, a deer stepped out in front of me. I’ve never seen deer on the road in Rock Creek Park, especially not in the broad daylight. Usually you’ll see them congregating on the side of the road after dark — so go slow and use your high beams.
Anyway, she had barely put one hoof on the road when she saw me coming and sllooowwwly backed off. I slowed to a crawl, and she watched me warily as I limped past.