The Daily Prompt was unusual but I gave it a shot anyway.  My offering for “Plop”.

This old guy waits patiently for my husband to come in from fishing

As the leftover bait plopped into the water, the pelicans fought to be the first to snatch it up.  You would think they hadn’t been trolling for fish all day long the way they knock each other out of the way to be first.  I watched as the winner greedily snatched the bait and marveled as it seemed to threaten to burst through the elastic looking pouch under his bill.  God’s creatures never cease to amaze me and they always remind me of His sense of humor.

I walked barefoot over to my favorite chair; the one I have sat and watched what I call “my” cardinals and mockingbird in for a couple of years now.  The thing is… I haven’t seen any of them in months.  The only birds I see frequently besides the water birds are crows and doves.  The big black crows drive me nuts with their incessant cawing as they eat the stale bread a neighbor throws out for them daily.  Lately, the doves are the lone visitors to my bird feeder and they are extremely skittish.

My friend said that she caught a snake eating a cardinal under her bird feeder the other day and so I mentioned this to my husband.  He said, “Oh yeah, I’ve seen that rat snake hiding in the shrub right by the feeder.  He blends right in”.  I’m aghast that he knew this was going on and didn’t do something about it!  He could have run the snake off or something, right?!?

In light of this disturbing news, I googled it and lo and behold, feeders do often attract snakes which makes sense now that I think about it.  Now I have a decision to make.  Do I continue to provide seed and hope the birds are stealthy enough to avoid Mr. Rat Snake or do I remove the feeders entirely for fear of unintentionally luring the poor birds to their death?  The very shrub the evil thing likes to hide in will soon be sprouting berries that are particularly loved by the mockingbirds.  If the same mockingbird visits that did last year, he was mean and territorial.  Maybe he will run the snake off to another yard.

I’ve spent hours in my chair, enjoying the birds while I spend time with Jesus and bask in the sunshine or watch the sunset.  This will be a difficult change for me.  I’m saddened even thinking about removing the feeder and tossing the rest of the seed out in the open.   Maybe someone has an idea that will save the day.