Yesterday morning I was dragging butt. Slept in (7 a.m.), did the decaf thing, hit the shower. The usual, but running just a little behind. Sometimes it’s okay to run behind.
Finally, I poked my head out of the Airstream later than normal, sat down on the doorstep and looked up as I heard some rustling in the tree above me. Two little birds shot into the branches, almost as if one was chasing the other in some type of fun game of tag. The lead bird suddenly came to a dead halt, and the follower shot right by.
It seemed to me that the stuck bird had gotten its wing hooked into a branch. Never saw that before.
I moved off the step and got right under the bird to see if it would free itself, and that’s when I noticed. It wasn’t stuck on a branch. The branch moved a little. And then I traced the lines and curves of the branch.
A snake had grabbed the little bird. And it wasn’t letting go.
Watching for minute after minute I could see, the bird wasn’t going to win this one. The snake clearly had gotten its morning meal. And I stood there watching, and hoping a little that somehow the bird would free itself.
There was a moment where I thought about grabbing the camera and the 70-200mm. Then I rethought it and decided to leave this photo op alone.
In the end I walked away feeling a little bad for the bird. The snake had its meal, and that’s part of life. Funny though to find myself rooting for the bird’s escape. Guess we all have “species” bias when watching the circle of life.
Comments 2
It is very humbling to watch a life (no matter how small or insignificant) extinguished right in front of you. Just last Sunday, a car in front of me hit and killed a squirrel. A few years ago, I would have not given this another thought; however, the image haunted me for the rest of the day.
Funny how we get more physiological the older we get and closer to that eventuality…
No comment… 🙁