Esbat
07-23-2004, 10:33 AM
Last night, a snake decided to eat the birds out of the nest on my front porch. I snapped some pictures with the camera.
copied from the PRISM boards:
Here is the backstory:
A finch of some sort (Delyth knows what kind, to me it is just a finch) built a nest on my front porch in my Strangler Vine. This finch, while not so bright, had chicks and seemed to be doing quite well, despite trying to kill me each and every time I walked by her nest (at least several times a day). I was forbidden to murder the bird by my soft hearted wife, who thinks that all living things have a right to try and kill me (I think she likes to test my fitness as a breeding partner or something.)
Anyhow, tonight, my chaos/strife sense went off big time while watching the Graham Norton Effect. Puzzled, I was drawn to the front door, where I peeked out the blinds. Something was not right... I looked around.
AHA! the psychotic finch with no idea of proper nest building philosophy (location, location, location!) wasn't staring at me in a very baleful manner. Instead.. there was a shape that looked like...
Yes! a snake! A rat snake!
Ok, what comes next are snake pictures. Snakes eating birds. You have been warned.
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http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake1.jpg
This is the snake diving into the nest constricting one of the birds. Scale is kind of an issue here, but trust me when I say the snake was fairly large- most of it is in the nest.
http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake2.jpg
This is the snake going for the head of the baby bird. Kind of hard to see, but if you notice the small white patch slightly below and to the left of the leaf- that is the snake's throat. You can also see a beady eye right below the leaf.
http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake3.jpg
Snake pointed right at me. Nest in far left of picture. Had to poke snake to get it to move.
http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake4.jpg
Zoom of snake. It was dark on the porch, so I got focus on the background instead of the snake's head like I wanted to. However, it is clear where the head is by the reflection of the eyes.
http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake5.jpg
Snake on the other side of the Strangler Vine, looking for a way down. The back of the snake is still near the nest on the other side of the trestle, as seen in the picture below.
http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake6.jpg
All in all, not bad. I wish some of the other pictures came out as clear, but trying to use a digital camera in the dark is a challenge, to say the least. Maybe Dorgin can teach me something next time he is in town.
copied from the PRISM boards:
Here is the backstory:
A finch of some sort (Delyth knows what kind, to me it is just a finch) built a nest on my front porch in my Strangler Vine. This finch, while not so bright, had chicks and seemed to be doing quite well, despite trying to kill me each and every time I walked by her nest (at least several times a day). I was forbidden to murder the bird by my soft hearted wife, who thinks that all living things have a right to try and kill me (I think she likes to test my fitness as a breeding partner or something.)
Anyhow, tonight, my chaos/strife sense went off big time while watching the Graham Norton Effect. Puzzled, I was drawn to the front door, where I peeked out the blinds. Something was not right... I looked around.
AHA! the psychotic finch with no idea of proper nest building philosophy (location, location, location!) wasn't staring at me in a very baleful manner. Instead.. there was a shape that looked like...
Yes! a snake! A rat snake!
Ok, what comes next are snake pictures. Snakes eating birds. You have been warned.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake1.jpg
This is the snake diving into the nest constricting one of the birds. Scale is kind of an issue here, but trust me when I say the snake was fairly large- most of it is in the nest.
http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake2.jpg
This is the snake going for the head of the baby bird. Kind of hard to see, but if you notice the small white patch slightly below and to the left of the leaf- that is the snake's throat. You can also see a beady eye right below the leaf.
http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake3.jpg
Snake pointed right at me. Nest in far left of picture. Had to poke snake to get it to move.
http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake4.jpg
Zoom of snake. It was dark on the porch, so I got focus on the background instead of the snake's head like I wanted to. However, it is clear where the head is by the reflection of the eyes.
http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake5.jpg
Snake on the other side of the Strangler Vine, looking for a way down. The back of the snake is still near the nest on the other side of the trestle, as seen in the picture below.
http://home.nc.rr.com/prismites/snake/smallsnake6.jpg
All in all, not bad. I wish some of the other pictures came out as clear, but trying to use a digital camera in the dark is a challenge, to say the least. Maybe Dorgin can teach me something next time he is in town.