This Great Egret appeared to be peering over at me, saying, “Hey, look what I found . . . “
“Hmmm…, now I just have to figure out how to get this long skinny thing down my throat before it gets away.” Eating a snake is lot more challenging than spearing a fish and tossing it up in the air, then swallowing it whole.
“If I could just figure out which way to turn it, without letting go of it…” Meanwhile, the snake was doing a valiant job of wriggling in all directions.
After at least 6-8 minutes of earnest struggle, the Heron sauntered off into the marsh, and disappeared out of sight. He reappeared a few moments later, looking rather self-satisfied, sans snake.
Frankly, he was gone and back so quickly, I doubt he had time to finish off his snack . . . he was probably just too embarrassed to drop it and admit defeat ‘in public’. ☺️
Birder's Journey 
He was just preparing his “Shabbat seudah”
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Shabbat Shalom, Cyndi! 😉
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Wow. That is certainly not something you see every day. Great shots of the snake as well as the egret. It’s hard to decide if it managed to swallow the snake, but it doesn’t look like there is much meat on its bones compared to some of the fish I have seen egrets and herons swallow.
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Good point, Mike. Probably not worth the effort!
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Cool capture!
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It was cool to watch. Thanks, Amy.
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Nice captures!
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Thank you, Kathy!
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Very nice! Never saw one with a snake! I have seen odd other meals they have had, but never a Snake!
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I suspect he eventually gave up on it and let it slither off in the marsh. : )
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Amazing! The one I was most shocked by was seeing a great blue heron swallowing a turtle whole! Still can’t believe it.
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Wow, now that is incredible, Pam! It’s hard to even imagine – what a sight to behold that must’ve been!
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