Ron

I heard of deer eating fish from a wildlife biologists.

I've seen them eating fish on the river bank while I was float fishing. so that doesn't surprise me

Once I had seen deer eating a bird, actually it only eats baby birds from their nest.

I have never seen a "deer eating bird" It would have to be a real big bird.

Read a study years ago about why Deer have such a keen sense of smell and why such a large part of their brain is dedicated to the sense of smell.

Sure there is the obvious reason, an early warning system to warn of predators.

The hypothesis is the main reason is that Deer need trace elements in their diet to survive, kind of like vitamins and their sense of smell leads them to places to feed that are higher in these trace elements.

Why did the Deer cross the road, swim the river or beat down the fence (other than Rut)? To get to the minerals.

I often spray a bush with Nuc Mom (sp?) a fermented Vietnamese fish sauce, to put out a scent cone to try and draw the Hogs in my direction. More Deer visit the bush than Hogs, kind of like Deer Catnip.

My guess is eating Birds scratches an itch they have for protein or maybe some sort of trace elements they need.