Too Much Nature, Too Red in Tooth and Claw

Our yard backs up to a public park that forms a natural wildlife habitat, which can be a lovely thing. In the spring and summer, our back garden is very private, our koi pond is home to a red-eared slider and several unidentified black frogs, and a ruby-throated hummingbird lately has been hovers outsiding our dining room window to look at himself.

On the downside, I’m fighting a losing battle against an intractable pokeweed incursion into the garden, and there are far too many snakes. I’m not afraid of a little garter snake, but there are TOO MANY. I’ve personally found three discarded snake skins in the past two weeks — the longest about three feet – and I have hardly made a thorough sweep of the yard. I’ve seen snakes by rocks, in the garden, and on the mulch pile, and most unnervingly, swimming in the pond, where the snake’s undulating motion was far too, well, serpentine, for my liking. This was probably the most disturbing thing I’ve seen in the pond since the day we found a floating red-tailed hawk, dead from unknown causes.

Even worse,  I just saw a grackle eating a snake. When I stepped closer, the bird flew away into a nearby tree with the snake’s bloody head clasped in his talons, its limp body dangling. You know you have too many snakes when the birds use them as food.