I took the dogs out to do their business earlier today and, on the way back, I happened to look up in the tree we walk under a dozen times a day. I saw what I thought was a black piece of plastic until it moved in an unmistakably serpentine way. It was a big-ass snake, about 15 feet off the ground.
As I looked closer I saw the snake was wrapped around a bird nest, which explained the frantic activity of some robins. They were darting in for a peck at the snake, trying to scare it off. With no luck at all. (I found it interesting that they were getting help from cardinals and other birds) The snake looked like he might be digesting something.
If you are a snake lover or naturalist or one of those guys who pick up snakes, you can skip the rest of this post. It’s just gonna piss you off. Let’s go to the video [CAUTION: Adult language]:
Even if I’d been willing to get on a ladder and grab the snake, it would probably have brought down the nest. But friends, that was never a consideration.
And even as I fired little steel balls into the tree, the adult birds didn’t flinch or move away. They stayed right by the nest. I kept thinking I’d hit and kill one of them but I didn’t.
If this black snake had stayed out in the woods, stuffing himself with rodents and moles, he’d still be alive. But he decided to climb up my tree and eat some defenseless baby robins.
As Mr Burns says, “Eeeexcellent”!
Humans are part of the natural order, which some ppl forget. A good snake is a dead snake. Same with most spiders. Kill that sucka, then eat it. Nerves affect slingshot accuracy, hey?!
Holy crap thats a freaking big snake! Haven’t seen too many of that size outside of those crazy indonesian jungles:D
I saw a very simlar thing in LA about a month back. Except a Sea Gull had a baby duck. Luckily that mamma duck and daddy duck did some aerial dog fighting to get their little one back (other wise I must confess that part of my vacation might have been ruined)
Since TSA is all up in my grill I left the sling shot at home. But if I had one handy I’d have shot that sea gull
Good grief, what the hell kind of snake is that? I’ve never heard of a black snake before and I’m pretty sure – make that positive – we have none in Wisconsin, at least not yet. I don’t dislike snakes but the first time I see one of those here I’m moving back up north . . . like to Hudson Bay.
Seriously, with a slingshot??? Very impressive. 357, baby.
I thinking more along the lines of being saved from a 40 foot rogue Black Snake by a robin that remembers I had once saved his family (well, most of them). He pecks the snake’s eyes out or rallies 1,000 robins who carry the snake out to sea or puts him in the hold of a plane or something.
What Steve isn’t telling you is that after killing the mama snake with his slingshot, he found a nest with three baby snakes. Out of guilt, and at the urging of his pa, he has taken the baby snakes into his home, named them Wynken, Blynken and Nod, and is raising them as his own. He will eventually release them into the wild in a touching scene at the end of the episode.
I knew you were a closet republican all the time.
nice shootin, tex.
I like Trish’s Old Testament take. Had I been in The Garden on that Fateful Day… with my slingshot… we might still be chillin’
Profound themes here, oh talented slinger of shot, slayer of serpents, defender of innocents, deciderer of life and death –
“A man’s life of any worth is a continual allegory” – John Keats
Mr. Knight makes a good point. Either all life is sacred… or none. “liberated from the chains of prejudice?” Devoutly to be wished. If a “spiciest” is someone who wants Old Yeller to live and the wild cat to die… guilty as charged. But if you don’t back off, I’m sending Uncle Remus over to rough you up.
Steve – thought you were liberated from the chains of prejudice. But underneath, nothing but a specieist after all. I’m deeply shocked and disappointed. (Although you are impressively handy with a sling shot, I must admit.) What the heck are those robins eating to keep the kids growing? Who will stick up for the worms?
Glad I now know who to call to take care of snakes at my house. Great Job!
WOW, that is largest Black Snake I have seen in the Mid Mo area. Holy cow, I hope you didn’t actually kill the snake, but if you did, I am not personally hurt by it. I am more impressed by the size of the sucker and your Slingshot accuracy!! Both are exceptionally impressive!