July 1, 2010

Now that's not fair!

But then, life is not fair. We do our best not to interfere with nature too much. We do have 2 well-stocked bird feeders, a bird bath, and there is a water dish in the yard where all kinds of animals can come and drink. Other than that, we are pretty much "hands-off". We do not kill snakes and, if they are not poisonous, they can stay (unless they make a habit of hanging out in the chickens' nesting boxes, then they get relocated). The other day the curved-bill thrasher and the cactus wren both were giving their alarm calls and diving in on a big gopher snake, but I let them work it out among themselves. When you see how they attack a snake, you start feeling sorry for the snake!

We were enjoying our morning breakfast when one of the quail families sauntered up and suddenly Dan said: look at the feathers there by the grass, there's something there. By then a rattler had just bit a young chick, and another little bird was about to investigate the scene. That's going a bit far: no killing at the buffet table! We got out the snake tongs and the snake box and another relocation has taken place. After breakfast.

1 comment:

webb said...

Great - but gross - picture! Way too much nature for me!!