Mortal Combat: Snake vs. Hawk

01/12/2012

I just recevied an email with some stunning photos depicting the daily struggle of life in the animal world.  I share them here because while this kind of thing must happen millions of times every day across the globe, rarely do we ever get to see it up close.  To me, that makes this an odd thing to see. The outcome is also pretty amazing considering the circumstances.

I don't know the origin of the photos, or the veracity of the story, but the photos don't lie and are pretty stunning.  Here's the tale included in the email I received: 

"This has to be the weirdest thing that ever floated by me on the Snake River.  They were stuck together in death lock, each wanting to kill the other first.  My guess is that the falcon snatched up the tasty snake, and it somehow got its tail around the falcon's neck, strangling it in midair causing both of them to crash into the river.  They are both alive and well, considering.  I think a few more minutes and the snake would have won.  The tail was actually tied in a  knot around the neck, and getting tighter by the second.  I got the snake untied, and well, as you can see, they both made it. 

This is another one of those stories you tell, and are always acknowledged with "yeah, right!"  Well, here's the proof.  Neither of them bit me or scratched me; the snake didn't want to stop biting the falcon's leg, and only let go after I had untied everything else.  I got the water out of the falcon's lungs with birdie inversion technique, and stayed with him until he was almost dried off in the sun, and flying a little. 

Ball of snake and falcon, that is the weirdest thing I have pulled out of the water so far, it beats the wagon wheel!"

If you are the photographer, or know his name, please let me know in the comments section below.

Comments

[Nicola Karesh]

Amazing! Glad that the story and photos crossed your path. I imagine there are so many more incredible untold stories out there!

[Hector Fabian]

Impresionante.... imágenes.

saludos

[Ruy Lima]

Wow, what fantastic photos. Congratulations.

[Mari]

I think that guy saved the bird's life. Looked like the snake was winning that struggle!

[Raj]

He interfered in the game of lyf,dats nt gud,dis is d think dey do for their survival ,predating each other, if we intrfere den dey wil nt survive,bcoz we r d most worst creature in dis planet.

[vaibhav saxena]

The pics r just fabulous and good to see a happy ending.

[Kathy]

Poooooooor Birdie. But lol after all was won for him. TheFalcon has the most frazzled look on his face at the last photo. Poooor baby <3

[KJ]

I just received this e-mail, only it said it was the Comal River in New Braunfels, TX.

[Cmoreno]

Can't be the Snake River in NOVEMBER. The email I got said the Comal...which is TX...far more likely. Probably a TX rat snake. and I'm thinking more of a Hawk or Harrier, not a Falcon....just guessing. I'm certainly no authority, but being a Texan in Utah, I highly doubt the Snake River is possible....too darn cold in Nov. and the snake wouldn't be out!

[David Mizejewski]

@CMoreno - that's an excellent point. It'd be far too cold in November for the snake to be active along the Snake River.

As I mentioned in the post, I don't know the veracity of the story and we all know how unreliable forwarded emails can be. That said, the actual photos tell an undeniable story.

And yes, the bird is technically a hawk, not a falcon.

[Dave Martin]

Lots of assumptions being made here. The November date stamp could be wrong. You assume it is the Snake River in Idaho. One of the emails I received said it was on the Snake River near Hanford, Washington. The Snake flows into the Columbia near Pasco, Washington.

[Therese A Catanach]

@Dave Matin- the species of snake in the picture isn't found outside the south central US. As CMoreno said the "original" email circling around in December identified the location as the Comal River (in Texas).

[Diane]

I bet that's one hawk that will think twice before he grabs a snake again!

[Ayaa]

Amazing! The snake is to small to eat the bird. If it were the right size then yeah poor bird lost.. but since the bird is to big for the snake there's no point to lose a life just because of that.

[playmobil]

This is very common you know. Animals strive to live even though it means its gonna end another life it just recycles the food chain so its very necessary.