Reader Andree Sanborn (flickr site here, FB page here) sent a series of photos taken by her daughter. It shows nature red in tooth and mouth, so be warned. Andree’s notes:
My 2nd daughter, Amelia Michaud, is the manager of the Frontier Animal Society in Orleans, VT. She is crazy busy and never posts her nature sightings but has given me permission to do so. While out walking dogs on August 17, 2017, she captured this drama of a Garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) eating an American toad (Anaxyrus americanus). I’m so glad she had her phone with her. These may be gruesome sights for some — just be warned. It is something most of us will never see again. And I swear that in one video you can hear the toad vocalizing (it seems amazingly calm, if one can use that word to describe its state of mind).
Awesome.
Well, snakes have to eat, too!
Wow! Amazing! What a sight!
Very cool indeed.
hate to see two of my back yard friends not getting along.
As a kid I once caught a red-sided garter snake which promptly barfed up the American toad it had just eaten, which I hadn’t noticed since I couldn’t see the head when I caught it, the toad’s “screaming” was what alerted me to the snake. It was rather unpleasant to witness, I must admit.
wow. I’m glad I didn’t see this. I probably would have tried to save the toad. But on the other hand, I read an account by a naturalist somewhere (and of course I can’t remember where or who) who did rescue one and it did not end well at all.
This big gulp seems backwards. You’d expect the snake to swallow the toad head first. I think most predators that swallow whole – that would include birds like herons and egrets – are always careful to rotate the pray for best enjoyment. Nice capture of an interesting phenomenon.
And God said, “Thou shalt not record vertical video.”
Certainly a fascinating sight.