Shug asked a question, "Do you all have a problem with snakes eating the bird eggs?" We really don't. Having lived here in nature, in the middle of a wetland for 15 years, we have come to understand the cycle of life. Mother Nature understands there is an ebb and flow. We trust that animal populations respond to external factors. We see how they respond to weather and climate, overpopulation, habitat loss, and human intervention or pollution. We tend to let things be in our ecosystem.
Most of our snakes (Ontario snakes) are smaller. There is the Black Rat Snake, but they are infrequent. They get to be 6' long. They are endangered, as I recall. They have one at the local park education centre. Here are the grandies visiting back in the day. They are not aggressive, and the kids handled it at the centre. This is Murphys Point Park, where they've often camped.
There are many other predators, though. The mammals are the most frequent: raccoons, weasels, mink, but crows steal eggs, too. I've seen them flying across the back yard. I think it was the mink that found the Cardinal nest one year. I saw it hop by one day, and saw it on the trailcam.
Weasels are bad, as well. They eat an egg or two, then dump the eggs on the ground, right out of the nest box. Then there is Butch raccoon!
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Cardinal eggs June 2023 |
10 comments:
Yes, the circle of life is most enjoyable to see on your acres.
Nature red in tooth and claw but also pretty awesome.
Hari Om
Excellent roundup of the happenings at the acres! YAM xx
Fred is wonderful.
Hello,
We see the black rat snakes often around here.
Cute photos of the kiddies.
Take care, have a great day!
Fred is delightful 😊 I don't have a garden, I live in a 6th floor apartment. Snakes creep me out.
Thank you for answering my question about the snakes. Fred has become one of my favorites and I look forward to getting updates on him each day... Your grands are so cute...
Watching a rabbit eat a dandelion was a surprise to me one day. There was no dainty nibbling; it just inhaled it!
Wouldn't it be nice if you could hire them to trim up the edges and bits. We had a deer yesterday evening, but far from being helpful, she was lying on my rock garden chewing her cud.
My grandkid once wanted me to collect a black snake for her - she loves all snakes and this one was swimming across the beach where we were playing. It was all of six feet and I had to disappoint her. (Grandma was quite glad, not being a snake person.)
How wonderful that your grandies were introduced to snakes and all things in nature when they were very young. One of the most amazing gifts we can give I’m thinking. Lovely to see Fred out and about.
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