All It Takes Is One Cluck

  During our evening walk about the hillside, Mark and I came across the cutest sight. I only wish that I had been quicker with the camera as to record this vision would have been delightful.  Mama Rail had her little chicks out on the marsh mats that had washed in with the recent storm. The little black balls of fluff were scampering about the mats like children do.  Mama rested while the little ones played.  As soon as Mark and I stepped on the pier, I heard "Tut, tut" and the tiny birds scampered for cover under the overhanging salt myrtle bushes.  They listened well to Mama and sought safety under the branches.  I hope they found it. 

  These were the same mats that, as recently as last week, were the sunning spots for two nice sized water snakes.  Those two three feet long snakes had also slithered up under the salt myrtle bushes.  It seems that the cover provided by the shrubs and the large oak trees is home to a myriad of critters.  I just hope that Mama Rail is able to protect her babies from the snakes.  She needn't have worried about the humans on the pier.  We would have never harmed her or her little ones.