It could also be my arch enemy, the VOLE. They even ate my hellbores last year during the last snow of the season. I just discovered they ate the bark from the base of my little Dawn Redwood. It's been happy for the past 4 years, growing and getting bigger. Yesterday I noticed the bark was missing from the bottom inch not quite totally around the base of the tree. I whould have suspected the rabbit which has eaten almost everything else except the tree was fenced. I guess I have to put 1/2 mesh around it. I think it will survive but this part of spring is always a little disapointing, (the part where you discover all the damage done over the winter)

I've seen squirrels eat my lilac buds. I ran after them with a shotgun and scared the sh-- out of them! LOL! They eat the birdseed off the ground now. When they don't have the seed, they go for the buds.