About 3:30 the wife informs me that there is a snake in the back yard. Sure enough a dead. 12" rattlesnake. The first time in living here 33 yrs. to find a rattlesnake. Take it outback to the brush pile and go inside. 30 mins. later she informs me that there is a dead bird in the back yard. I find a pile of feathers and what appears to be a half grown hawk. Head nearly bitten off, most of one wing is gone and a little damage to the other wing. The game warden is coming by later this week to pick it up. From the photos he thinks its a Coopers Hawk. Really strange day for around here.

Do you have a cat? Or one close by?

Snake was born late this summer…shed once.

We have a pair of Redtail hawks that nest in a tree about 75 yds. away from where the bird was found. The neck of this hawk was severely damaged and that is what I have heard that hawks will do. I have found a few other small birds in the yard with the head almost gone. I'm guessing that this Coopers infringed on the Redtail territory and it cost him. We had been cleaning up the yard about 30 min. earlier and the hawk wasn't there then. I'm a bit concerned about the snake, where there is one there are more and I have 2 dogs. And I had 3 grandkids here for Christmas that played quite a bit in the yard. I have several wood piles around, I think that I will find some place to stack them off the ground to discourage the snakes a bit.