We came home from church tonight to find the nest pillaged. The babies gone. And a fat, happy snake comfortably
resting on a vent on the side of the house.
A wren made a nest in what originally seemed to be a precarious location atop a wind chime hanging underneath the eaves of
our home. She secured it with mud, such that it now appears to be quite stable. I don't imagine the nest sways
anymore on the wind chime than it would on a tree branch. At either rate, she now has babies in the nest.
Last
night, I saw a rather large chicken snake on the deck near the nest. I initially thought nothing of it, so I stepped
on his tail to make him scurry along, thereby preserving his life. Otherwise, if our dogs had noticed him, he'd
surely be killed.
A few minutes later, I walked into the kitchen to discover the same snake crawling along the window sill (outside). It immediately became apparent his intent was to get to the baby wrens. So, after shooting some
video and snapping some pics, I flung the snake about 20 yards away.
Just a few minutes later, I found the snake back
on the window. So, when I walked out on the deck, I found two more snakes. We now have a family of snakes, presumably
on a mission to eat these birds. One of the snakes was at least 6 feet in length! As the medium sized and smaller
snake would climb on the window, they would stretch their bodies in an attempt to reach the bird's nest. The big
snake was simply too large to fit on the window sill, so he quickly gave up and escaped underneath the house. The small
snake was too small to pull it off either. The medium sized snake (the one featured in the video) was almost long enough
to reach the nest, but he would fall each time. He must have fallen 10 feet to the ground at least 6 times that I witnessed.
Each time, he would return for another try.
Most of you know that I love nature and all God's creatures. I understand the "family" of snakes were hungry, but I could not bear to see these defenseless baby birds meet their
demise after I have watched them grow from eggs. I could not kill the snakes as many have suggested, as I just do not
have the heart for that. I therefore fudged the prime directive and removed most of the wood pile giving them access
and also coated the wall with soap.
I woke this morning to find the baby wrens safe and sound. Hopefully the snakes
found a meal elsewhere.
