Don’t read any farther if you find this topic upsetting. I have included pictures, so just…look away.

We have a small grove of bird feeders, and near the area of the feeders is a small sapling some ten or fifteen feet tall with a horizontal limb at about six feet from the ground. We have an Oak Snake that climbs the tree and sits on that limb during the early months of spring when the Goldfinch are overrunning the feeders. I was watching him one day when he caught one of the Finches.

Here he has just caught the bird. You can hardly see the bird as he has wrapped it up inside the coil,. You can just see some feathers sticking out of the coil.

In this shot he has the head in his mouth, which is mostly hidden behind the body of the bird.

This shows more of his distended neck and head as he slowly swallows the bird.

Once he gets past the shoulders the bird goes down his throat much faster.

Until he finally gets the whole bird down his throat.

Shortly after the last shot was taken he climbed down from the tree and went to find a sunny spot to digest his meal. This particular snake is totally unafraid of me and I see him around quite a bit. I’ve even seen him at the bird bath actually drinking from the water. I didn’t know that they did that, assuming like most reptiles that they get their moisture from their prey. I could tell he was actually drinking, not just because his snout was in the water, but also because his neck just behind his head was expanding and contacting like he was working his throat to suck in the water.

One of the reasons I love living in the swamp is you get to see all the interesting critters making a living in their natural environment.