What is Cutting Off the Blooms of My Iris?

I have problems with squirrels in the apartment complex that I live in. They dig the dirt out of my flower pots and eat the roots. I really wish it wasn't against the law to shoot the little critters in town. But a neighbor guy got in trouble a couple years ago for shooting them with a pellet gun.

I don't know about iris blooms but I do know that baby deer used to bite off the blooms of my vegetable plants. They didn't eat them, just bit the blooms off and dropped them. Little rascals!!!

Most likely it is an animal of some sort not birds. Make a cover using chicken wire

Today I found one of my stems just as you described, had some last year as well. I googled and all I could find that fit was a gopher, but I think it is an insect of some kind. I see no other signs of a gopher. An Iris borer was mentioned in the article I read but that didn't seem to fit either. Does anyone else have this problem, and what did you do about it?