Recently, after an extended weekend with family in Tennessee, we arrived home once it was dark. Startled is an understatement when I describe what it was like to see glowing eyes staring back at me through the kitchen window. My brain couldn’t comprehend the LARGE snake, coiled up in my bird house, which was suspended from the soffit overhanging the back deck. A few bluebird families have enjoyed that See Rock City birdhouse, but no more!

My head was spinning with so many questions: “How did he get up there? How big is he? What was in that bird house and how did he know? When would he vacate the premises?”

I immediately thought of my friend Ben Winkelman, who is the Director of the Rome-Floyd ECO Center. The ECO Center houses reptiles and other exciting creatures, and if anyone could speak to this snake’s motivations, it’s Ben! He tackled all of my questions like a boss.

“Snakes in our region that are most likely to pursue bird nests and bird houses after hatchlings or eggs are rat snakes. Another possible culprit could be the Eastern King Snake. Both of these are non-venomous but make excellent climbers.”

I’m almost certain there wasn’t an active nest in that bird house at the time, but an egg or two could have been left behind. But how did the rat snake detect that? Ben explains, “A snake’s sense of smell is incredible. They have a smell sensor located in the roof of the mouth, called a Vomeronasal Organ (VNO) or simply the Jacobson’s Organ. This can detect airborne and non-airborne chemicals. The snake’s forked tongue collects the particles as he flips it out and takes it towards the roof of his mouth to the Jacobson’s Organ. This is extremely sensitive in finding food. It also helps snakes with non-airborne chemicals and with vibrations and surroundings. I would guess the amount of scent around and underneath a bird’s nest would be easy to find.”

Uggg! So then that snake could smell those eggs from at least 20 feet below?! Needless to say, that See Rock City bird house is now gone, haha! We still have our feeders, but I’m not cool with encouraging a temporary visitor to our back deck.

Other then chucking the bird house over the fence, what can be done to deter snakes? Ben suggests making a predator guard to protect bird feeders and bird houses. Wrap the post with metal flashing, or buy a cone pole guard (or baffle). Snakes struggle to climb smooth surfaces, so these deterrents make it even more difficult to get to the eggs.

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