We’ve featured a number of amazing nature scenes that play out on our website, but this might be the most dramatic yet.
Photographer Marcos Rodriguez witnessed and photographed a wild, 20-minute battle between a large heron and the snake that was going to be its meal.
- Location: Orlando Wetlands, Florida
- Species: Great blue heron vs. banded water snake
- Photographer: Marcos Rodriguez (@wild.tigre)
- Duration of struggle: About 20 minutes
The Standoff
In the dramatic images, we see the way the snake wrapped itself around its attacker. Captured in the Orlando Wetlands, this blue heron takes on a very defensive banded water snake, which refuses to give up easily.
The photographs are wild to witness, as this snake puts up an amazingly strong fight, completely wrapping itself around the heron’s beak, head, and neck.
See more of Rodriguez’ images on Instagram.
Images © Copyright Marcos Rodriguez. Used with permission.
Who Won
How did this epic battle end? Rodriguez says that after a prolonged 20 minute struggle, the snake finally relents, and the heron makes it a well deserved meal.
“It happened by chance as I was making my way out, as I happened to notice from the corner of my eye the exact moment when the great blue heron snatched the banded water snake from the marsh”
-Marcos Rodriguez, via PetaPixel
Never never ceases to surprise and amaze us…
For more dramatic wildlife encounters like this one, see our roundup of the year’s best wildlife photography, curated from around the world.
7 Comments
You either eat or be eaten. And in the case of US fast food, I don’t know which is more applicable!
I I Hate Snakes!!!
It’s nature’s way, let it be.
Well said, thanks for the comment!
We fight and eat to live, not eat and live to fight.
That’s totally understandable, it’s an intense scene!
I can’t watch this or look at it. If I’m there I try to separate them. I just can watch predation. I know it happens but I can’t watch without helping the prey *this time*, the time there.