Hawk spotted with snake in talons: sorry no pic :(

While my family and I were enjoying the shade outside today we sawa red tailed hawk take off from the park. At first it stayed low putting its head to its feet. Then we saw why, it had a snake by the head. At first the snake was coiled on the hawk's feet then it let go and dangled. It happened too fast for me to get my camera and they were too far away for a description of the snake. It was at least 3 feet long. I reckon it was either a rat snake or a garter of some type as copperheads haven't been seen at this park in a few years. Last year we found what we think was a black rat dead and obviously removed of her eggs. Someone was very cruel to that poor thing. I wish I had found her first. I am going camping at Jacobs Cave this coming weekend and will have my camera on me at all times. I will hopefully have some neat pics to show off when we get back.

Cool experience....!!!

A hawk here caught a garter a few years ago. It landed on a telephone pole near where I was walking my Scrappibutt. Well, the hawk accidentally dropped the snake and Scrappi saw it. She ran to it and immediately felt the need to roll in dead snake. At least it was fresh... smell wasn't too bad.

Hope you get some great pictures next time though!

carnivorouszoo said:

While my family and I were enjoying the shade outside today we sawa red tailed hawk take off from the park. At first it stayed low putting its head to its feet. Then we saw why, it had a snake by the head. At first the snake was coiled on the hawk's feet then it let go and dangled. It happened too fast for me to get my camera and they were too far away for a description of the snake. It was at least 3 feet long. I reckon it was either a rat snake or a garter of some type as copperheads haven't been seen at this park in a few years. Last year we found what we think was a black rat dead and obviously removed of her eggs. Someone was very cruel to that poor thing. I wish I had found her first. I am going camping at Jacobs Cave this coming weekend and will have my camera on me at all times. I will hopefully have some neat pics to show off when we get back.

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Sounds bad to say this but it's the natural order of things. I've seen a couple
of hawks do this pretty much every year. Hawks, Eagles, Owls, Other Snakes,
Racoons etc. . .. . Snakes are not high up on the food chain, and God gave
them a perfect understanding of their place. That's why snakes are so
seclusive and defensive. I'd much rather see a snake being killed and eaten
by another animal, than to see them dead on the side of the road where
you know people with cars have to had swerved over to hit them, or to see
someone in a car cross over the mid line in the road to purposely run over
one they spot. . . . .or to see those "roundups" where they're captured and
killed by the hundreds. Hawks and other preditors are doing what they do by
nature. . . . the real threat to snakes and reptiles come from man who has
no natural reason to kill them other than for their amusment.

RavenSpirit360 said:

Cool experience....!!!

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Not for the snake, I'm thinkin' .

Good points from all. I did feel sorry for the snake but at the same time I was thinking "way to go hawk!" Snakes can be hard to catch in the wild. Saw a 3 foot or so ribbon garter last year moved so fast it was a blur I only know what it was because we saw it before it saw us.