Drama at the Drip - some may not like this image

[scottbuckel]

I have been spending a fair amount of time at various migration hot spots of late and I have not had a lot of time to edit and process images. As I scrolled through the images from last night this one jumped out at me. This is one of several hundred and I will process more in the future.

I have seen Cottonmouths eat several frogs and fish in the past, but this is the first bird. . .

Scott

[Shadow]

Wow! Any idea what species victim? Sharp as a tack. Your bird lens?

[Tim T]

Now that's not something that you see every day. Awesome action shot Scott. Very cool.

[Kenj8246]

Excellent image, Scott, but that's a shocker. Just wasn't expecting that from the title. Wonderful behavioral capture. All that said, I don't like cottonmouths.

[DigitalScape]

You nailed one sharp and eye catching image, Scott.

[scottbuckel]

All - thanks for the feedback.

The warbler was an Orange Crowned Sparrow as captured with a Nikon D300s, 500 mm f4 Nikon lens with a 1.4xTC with available light.

Scott

[HuyMan]

Wow that is an awesome shot!!!

[scottbuckel]

I sent the original image to a friend and they wanted to know how much of the sequence I captured, so I sent him (he uses 3G to connect to the internet so these are smaller than normal). I will admit that I did not realize what was going on until the bird obviously died in front of me . . . but I did capture an image fairly early in the sequence, and I had to go ahead and post the bird bulge.

BTW the cottonmouth returned to the spot to try to capture another bird.

Thanks for commenting,

Scott


This initial strike:


With a bird bulge (and a "smile"):

[jfoureyes]

Outstanding Scott! They got to eat too, but didn't think they got little birds...thanks for posting this!

[sandboa]

That's a neat series. I've actually heard of Cottonmouths hunting these bird drips before. The birders don't usually like it. Wonder if they feel the same when a bird eats a snake?

[TxPhotoShooter]

Very sharp and unusual set of photos Scott.

[David Alaniz]

Very unique, great job on these Scott.

[ttusa]

WOW what a cool shot!!

[bunnyfrogs]

oh poor thing. Every creature has to eat though! Nicely captured.

[Stargazer77517]

WOW, What a capture.