When we initially discovered something odd in our yard in the morning, we assumed it was just a piece of rope. However, upon closer inspection, we discovered what it was, and we were appalled.
We found something really strange in the yard this morning.
Initially, it appeared to be some sort of craft or perhaps a discarded length of rope. However, upon closer examination, we saw that it was a series of closely spaced oval bodies. As though someone had placed them there on purpose, they were dangling from a branch.
It was just next to the lawnmower when we found it. My husband saw an odd mark on the grass, as if something had fallen from above, when he went outside to check the machine. He noticed a chain of roughly ten little “pouches” on the old tree’s lower branches when he looked up.
We initially thought of insects because it was so strange. A nest, perhaps? Cocoons, perhaps? However, the longer we stared, the more uncomfortable we were. There was something living inside each semi-transparent “pouch.”We were stunned that this could occur in our own backyard when we eventually found out the facts.
We were shocked to learn the reality later on. As it happened, they were snake eggs. It was out that they had actually fallen out of the female when a predatory bird attacked.
Some of the eggs fell in midair, but the snake had probably been snatched in its claws and carried away by a buzzard or hawk. They became entangled on a limb and hung there, creating the peculiar “garland” that had so terrified us.
Silently, we stood staring at one another. It was at once frightening and fascinating to think that such a wild sight of nature had occurred directly above our yard.
The snake was killed in the search, but its progeny hung there as a somber reminder of how fleeting life is.
Now, each time we walk by that tree, we are reminded of this revelation and the peculiar way that life and death merge in front of our eyes.
