We're not the only ones who dehydrate foods

The goats have been sneaking into the rye grass paddock and eating the tender shoots of ryegrass that are coming up.  We're saving that ryegrass for later in the winter and are trying to let it get lush and thick prior to putting the livestock in there.  So the first order of business today was to run a second strand of electrified poly-wire to attempt to keep those goats out.

As I was attaching the poly wire to the perimeter fence, something caught my eye on the top strand of barbed wire.  I walked closer and this was the macabre sight I observed:

Impaled on the barbed wire fence

It's kind of interesting that just yesterday we blogged about dehydrating bell peppers to preserve them and store them for later use.  Well, it seems we aren't the only creature that dries food to save it for later.  While this might look like there is some sadistic psycho on the loose that is torturing frogs by impaling them on the spikes of barbed wire, no human is responsible for this treachery.

Who is doing this?  I didn't see the perpetrator, but I google searched and found that there are at least two birds in Louisiana that do this - the loggerhead shrike and the butcherbird.  I'm not much of a bird watcher so I can't say that I know what those birds look like.  Who knows, it could be any number of birds.  It's gotta be a bird.  This frog didn't commit suicide.  But why do the birds do this?

Poor Kermit

This unfortunate fellow was a rain frog.  As kids we always called them "pee frogs" because if you catch them in your hand, they pee on you.  This rain frog met his unfortunate end at the hands (err... feet) of a bird that stuck him on the fence so that he could come back and enjoy his meal at a later time. I've also seen small garter snakes impaled on this same fence.

It's not easy being green!

It's not easy being green, indeed!  The frog sits on the barbed wire spike and dries in the sun.  He actually turns into 'frog jerky' and the bird will come back to eat him similar to the way we reach into our pantry to enjoy food we've preserved.