fieldherping.eu

7:15 min.

Wow!!! What got into that snake's mind?

Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:Wow!!! What got into that snake's mind?

Exactly what I was thinking !
Clearly not a prey and if it was a defensive behaviour, why wouldn't it bite quickly and go away instead of keeping its mouth close on the bird

Feeding Frenzy...

Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:Wow!!! What got into that snake's mind?

What was on that BIRD'S mind? Why didn't it just DIVE to get rid of the snake?
Egrets are "water birds" for sure, but they usually hunt in shallow waters,
"from above". Exclusively? I couldn't find whether they (at least sometimes,
for any reason) dive or not. Maybe not. Does anyone know?

I wonder if that bite was lethal?

It's a pity, the most interesting parts happen just before or right after the video.
Maybe both animals misjudged each other.
Did the egret wanted to prey on the viper and is this a defensive reaction?
I don't believe that.

Was the viper luring with his tail for prey and the egret took the bait?
I believe the viper definitely is trying to prey on the egret.
He might never envenomated it if he only struck feathers.
Or do herons and egrets possess some kind of immunity to snake venom?
Maybe not that unlikely since snakes are definitely on their menu (just google heron/egret + snake).

We will never know

Bert Vandebosch wrote:It's a pity, the most interesting parts happen just before or right after the video.

Indeed!

Bert Vandebosch wrote:I believe the viper definitely is trying to prey on the egret.
He might never envenomated it if he only struck feathers.

I believe the snake was trying to prey on it too. Otherwise it would not make sense for the snake to hold on for so long (or hold on at all) when the egret is obviously trying to escape. There's quite a lot of blood visible on the wing when the snake let go but it's unclear if that's from the egret or the snake...

There's quite a lot of blood visible on the wing when the snake let go but it's unclear
if that's from the egret or the snake...

From the egret, believe me. (Of course I have no proof, but still...)

BTW, the bird attacked the head of the snake with it's beak quite a few times, but to no avail...
If I were the egret, I'd aim at the EYES of my molester, not just so "generally"... But then, my
IQ is probably somewhat higher than an egret's... and I've also studied the SAS manual...
OK, suppose the bird was maybe aready stunned by the venom, and therefore couldn't react in
the "most sensible" way, but still... if life's at stake... one gets enlightened... or not.

Berislav Horvatic wrote:From the egret, believe me. (Of course I have no proof, but still...)

Why are you so sure? I'm not saying you're wrong I just want to know why you think so. There was a lot of thrashing and throwing around and snake fangs/teeth are not too hard to dislodge.

Berislav Horvatic wrote:BTW, the bird attacked the head of the snake with it's beak quite a few times, but to no avail...

Yes, I noticed this too. The egret can most definitely kill a snake with a blow to the head (like they often do when hunting) but this one seemed to just "nibble" on the head rather than stab it with that dagger-like beak. Maybe it was too distressed?