As you know from an earlier post we had four precious baby Bluebirds in this house. On Monday, when I was out in the garden, they were happily chirping away, I made a mental note to check on their growth, realizing they would be fledging before too long. On Tuesday morning I stepped outside to let Hannes out before I ran some errands and noticed a small head poking out the entrance to the birdhouse. My first thought was: "it's too early for those babies to be up in the opening yet." As I got a closer look my heart broke wide open; it wasn't a bird at all but, rather, a black snake looking back at me! I was horrified!! I couldn't deal with the situation right then; it was too late to rescue the babies anyway. Mr. Goodneedle was also away from home that morning. I called him a few hours later and explained what I had discovered. By the time I got home he had cleaned out the house; all that remained when he went out there was an empty nest; the snake was gone. Yesterday the two of us researched all sorts of solutions to this problem. Mr. G. came up with, what we hope will be, an effective deterrent to this ever occurring again.
He made razor-sharp bands of pokey-outy metal barbs and has strategically positioned them, in three places, up the pole. We also replaced our stove-pipe type baffle with a conical one. We've got our fingers crossed that this will work. I continue to feel so bad every time I look outside at the barren house. I feel as though I let Mama and the babies down; we hope and pray that they'll try again and give our backyard another shot.
Fingers crossed.
Life is Good!
...but, oh, so hard somedays...
10 comments:
Oh, how horrible! We just discovered a tumbled-down nest under our deck -- the recent storm put an end to one robin couple's planned family. Somehow, though, the snake is worse.
Please don't feel bad. Nature is not always kind. I love birds and photograph them often but know that they are not safe. This year sadly I saw a large group of ducklings disappear to a great blue heron and a bald eagle. I saw a hawk's abandoned before hatching time. Almost every year there are losses but I watched the owls fledge, lots of herons,finches and bluebirds making it through. You have learned and will do your best next time. Hopefully you will get to have a successful clutch hatch and fledge.
Oh, that is hard to witness, isn't it? We have had a pair of swallows nest over a light fixture above our deck for years. Last year a pair of magpies made short work of that. Made me so sad. But the snake sounds even more sinister, for some reason.
That's very sad. We were so thrilled to find a California scrub blue jay in our yard. Until, we read they eat many things including hummingbirds. We had a hummer nesting not to far from where we spotted the California jay. The mamma didn't return to the nest. We looked in and there were three decomposed little bodies and baby beaks. We're sure that jay ate our hummer...she wouldn't leave three hatched babies. I know it's nature but I don't like it!! Patty McDonald
eeek!! I'd probably have a heart attack if I saw that. I can't even look at pictures of them.....
One, very determined robin insisted on making a nest in my hanging geranium basket despite the fact that it was darn close to the bbq grill and by the back door. Steve tried to encourage her to build elsewhere to no avail. She got as far as 4 laying eggs and then the heat dome hit us and stuck around. We haven't seen her since. Several friends have commented on the unusual number of dead birds they've encountered since the heat arrived. We fear that our robin was a victim also.
So sad I've never heard of such a thing. I hope that snake gets impaled on yur barb wire and your hubby is there to deal with it.
Nature can be so cruel! That’s awful.
I just love bluebirds, so sorry for the loss.
how sad indeed....tis the ugly side of nature unfortunately....even worse when we know that God sees every sparrow that falls...
Oh so sad. You are a considerate bird lover and things just happen.
Post a Comment