Natural Drama

Because I live in a rural area with a pond right outside our windows we see a lot of natural drama. Sometimes it's more drama than I care to witness.

One time I was walking in the yard and came across a garden snake attempting to swallow a frog. He had completely engulfed the frog's leg and I could tell there was no way he was gonna be able to swallow the rest of that frog. Yes, snakes can unhinge their jaws but he had already done that in order to manage the leg. The frog had run out of fight and seemed resigned to his situation. Since a snake cannot unswallow a frog, we had a "situation".

I went to the house to summon Chris (not sure why) and as we approached the scene, a red-tailed hawk swooped down, picked them both up and flew off. That resolved the situation.

Another time, I heard constant splashing on the other side of the pond so I went to investigate. I found a female mallard furiously beating her wings against the water trying to get airborne but she seemed to be caught on something. I knew there was some old fence wire through there so I thought she may have become entangled in it. I went back to the house for some wire-cutters in the hope of freeing her. I waded out to the duck and as I reached for her a huge snapping turtle rose to the surface with a firm grip on her leg. I broke off a dead piece of snag and whacked the turtle's back. At that moment the duck flew off...minus her leg. Then the turtle turned toward me. Chris urged me to return to shore and I needed little persuasion.

The duck alit awkwardly on a log near the far shore and sat there for several hours before finally rolling off into the water. It was sad for me. 

There was no sign of her the next day. I'm certain she became food for either the turtle or some other opportunist. Her cycle was completed.

Life is hard for them...for all of us. I know I shouldn't anthropomorphize. It needs to be that way.