A cranky carpet snake bit my hand this morning. Not that I blame him. I had his tail in one hand while the other was making a grab for his head. He was on top of the galah aviary and I wasn't tall enough to reach. He moved, I grabbed further down his neck rather than just behind his head and he quite justifiably turned around and fastened his mouth on my hand. I've got the prints to prove it; a semi-circle of punctures on the fleshy mound beneath my forefinger and a matching set on top. Bled like a stinker too which is probably good. I've been bitten before while unwrapping a magpie caught in the coils of a somewhat larger python. He showed his displeasure by puncturing the back of my hand. That time, after the excitement was over and the magpie had flown, seemingly none the worse for his expeience, I had to put my head between my knees, a primal reaction to being bitten by a serpent I suspect. The bite didn't hurt that much. Today I didn't get dizzy. And he was a smaller snake, only about 3 feet. We popped him in a feed bag and let him go in the bush far away from our birds.
The birds behaviour this morning was the reason we started looking for a snake. This fellow had been in the bauhinia tree next to the shed yesterday morning. The wild birds made such a fuss I had to investigate, plus I know the snake alarm call for magpies and there was a magpie doing just that. They have a distinctive grinding gurgle, for want of a better description, when they sight a snake. The other clue is many different species of birds will come together, chief among them mickey birds but also blue faced honeyeaters, grey crowned babblers, willie wagtails, magpies, pee wees and yesterday, even a kookaburra. So I knew there was a snake in the area. This morning when I took the rainbow lorikeets their breakfast they were nervous. Two months ago a carpet snake had got between the wire and the colourbond. Richard had to unscrew the colourbond walls and roof before I could catch the snake. The rainbows are snake savvy. When I opened the door to let the galahs out for their morning graze Obama came out screeching and flapping. I didn't pay too much attention. I thought he was spooking at the watering can I was carrying. He's the most nervy bird I've ever met, panicking at the slightest provocation. But it was Marvin who carried the biggest sign. He tiptoed over the threshold literally looking over his shoulder. Marvin is big bold brave and cocky. Timid is not in his nature. But me being me, I sat down and drank my coffee and didn't think anything more about it until noticing a curvy looking branch on top of the aviary. Too curvy, too sinuous, too, on inspection, snaky.
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