Dragnet!

Pretend you hear the opening notes of the “Dragnet” TV show theme song:

 “Dum da-dum dum…”

Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to read is true. No names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Prologue

Blackie, snake of interest wanted for questioning in the disappearance of one nest of bluebird eggs and one nest of baby bluebirds. 

The Scene of the Crime

It was Monday, July 7, 2014. The weekend’s Independence Day fireworks were reduced to charred Made-in-China rubble: burned out fountains, empty Roman candle sticks and confetti-sized pieces of brightly colored paper in yards and on roads. Summer in the country was in full-swing. The cattle were self-sustaining on grass, and hay fields in our area were full of tractors pulling swathers, rakes and balers. Hay season was also in full-swing.

Earlier that spring, I posted blogs showing our existing bluebird houses, 
“Bird-Brain Real Estate Agency – Week 1”; then later, the six new homes Bill built as part of the “Bluebird House Rural Renewal Project” to attract bluebirds looking for affordable new homes to raise their families.

Four pairs of bluebirds set up housekeeping in the new homes, plus one pair of sparrows that were quickly evicted. Nests were built and eggs laid. Bill discreetly monitored the status of the future families. Then, double tragedy struck: the eggs in one nest disappeared and, a few days later, the hatched baby bluebirds in another nest were kidnapped and presumed dead.

The Trap

Immediate measures were necessary to prevent further fatal nest-nappings. The suspected culprits were either raccoons or black snakes. Bill remembered staking bird netting over the strawberry patch several years ago to keep birds from using it as a dessert bar. Black snakes frequented the same cafeteria, hunting rodents that nested in the straw mulch, and became tangled in the netting. Bill was able to cut out a few snakes and release them into neighboring pastures. Others died as a result of heat exposure.

The same netting that saved our strawberries from the birds could also be used to save the bird nests from predators. Bill wadded up sheets of netting, wrapped them around the bird house poles and secured them in place with baling twine. A predator attempting to climb the pole would become trapped in the netting.

The Capture

On the morning of July 11th, Bill checked one of the bluebird houses and discovered a captive in the netting. It was Blackie, last seen in the yard in early spring. He had apparently been looking for breakfast and intended to turn that nest of babies into his own personal IHOP Blue(bird) Plate Special! 

Blackie wasn’t moving but that didn’t mean he was dead. Wearing heavy gloves, Bill carefully cut the netting to free the snake. He laid Blackie on the ground where he slowly regained consciousness. Bill commuted the immediate decapitation by hoe death sentence. Instead, he mercifully transported the reptilian felon out of the yard and across the road to a pasture where he was released and sentenced to lifetime community service clearing out the rodents. Hopefully, the pardon and rehabilitation program convinced Blackie to change his eating habits and curb his craving for baby bluebirds.

Epilogue

The netting solved the predator problem and we are anticipating the hatch of more baby blues like these!

“Dum da-dum dum...DUM!”