Corgi Friends – Unexpected Guests

We were thrilled to discover that we have a new hummingbird nest who has taken residence in one of our crape myrtle trees. The nest is securely resting on a branch that is too high for me to enjoy a peek or two of tiny hummingbird eggs, but that doesn’t stop me from pulling out the telephoto lens to capture a parent flying outside his new humble abode. The hummingbird is hovering near the nest and with wings that flap at a rapid 12-90 times per second, you can barely discern those wings are existent in this photo.

Later that holiday afternoon we were enjoying some music and sipping a cool drink or two outside with the Corgi-kids when Nikita became alert and darted in a fashion that caught our immediate attention.     With no hesitation from Cody to follow his elder and mentor, they both bounded towards the direction of a snake who quickly threw up his tail-end in defiance to warn that he was not pleased of their sudden appearance in his path.

After we gathered the kids and put them up out of harms way, we were relieved to confirm that our slithering guest was not a rattlesnake. Our beautiful friend turned out to be a Garter Snake who just wanted to continue on his way and go about his business. Hubby assisted him into a dust-pan and escorted him to safer grounds, both for us, the Corgis-kids and for the snake. We parted peacefully with our unexpected snake guest and he was happy to be rid of us to continue on his way.

Our reptilian visitor was a reminder that we need a refresher course for Dockers and Nikita on rattlesnake avoidance and Cody needs his first training lesson.