Thanks a lot! From the photo I could swear he/she posed either before or after the dirty deed of feeding on the babies.Poor little things.Nature is cruel,as mama used to say!I didn't even dream about a SNAKE getting them,as I was too worried about neighbor cats.I should have thought of it,as the nest was pretty handy.I should have gotten a squirrel baffle for that plant stand or moved it on a taller stand with a baffle.That's the reason I've never put up a bluebird house here in the sticks,someone told me this very thing would happen.This was a somewhat aggressive snake.She got pretty ticked off with me just coming over to take a better look (after I figured out from a distance it wasn't a pit viper.)We have a fair share of copperheads here,I live in/on Crowleys Ridge,if your from MO you probably know about "The Ridge."(Our claim to hills in NE ARK.)The copperheads are actually a beautiful snake,I respect them and don't get too close to them.This black ratsnake needs to hang around here in the winter,since it helped itself to my birds,and also,I'll thank it greatly to stay away from the birds and work on those dern MOLES in my yard!! Ha Ha! No,she/he did coil and when I tried to run her off the porch,she struck at the broom several times,quite scary since at her length she was pretty good at it.Do they "bite"?

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