One such luck happened to be turn towards me when I visited Gudavi Bird Sanctuary (Karnataka) last time. We were returning from bird shoot and I was looking for something interesting for macro on the ground! But not in my dreams I had thought that I would see anything like this! - A snake caught in spider web! I have no idea how it got stuck there! Thought of many possibilities - It might have fallen from any of the above branches and might have got stuck or any possibility of trying to catch the spider as a desperate attempt or by any other means??? I spent around 30 plus min to see what happens next!!! and... what I saw after that was another amazing story....
- Bronze back stuck in the Giant wood spider web
- Snake_on_web.jpg (47.77 KiB) Viewed 2111 times
...I had a very close encounter (just 6 ft away) with the Crested Serpent Eagle[CSE] just couple of hours back at around the same place! As this snake would make a tasty lunch for CSE, I was damn curious to see if I would be a witness for anything like a mid air hunt in front of my eyes!!
- Hanging Bronze back
- Snake_Gudvi.jpg (17.21 KiB) Viewed 2111 times
There were almost 6-8 Giant Wood spiders high above the web where this fella was hanging. I bet they were also equally tensed and excited as we were! I imagined them to be discussing among themselves on how to get rid of this mid-air crisis! As the size of the snake is bigger compared to their usual (or rarely some unusual) pray they were not looking keen on building some strategy to sack this guy and celebrate their lunch! I was expecting for some hero among them to come forward and do some action! But the biggest question still remained.... Who will bell the cat??
- Snake_vertical_final.jpg (16.33 KiB) Viewed 2112 times
... I looked around in the anxiety for CSE to see if I will be a lucky guy.l.. but no clues of it anywhere! My cousin was busy with his HDV camcorder filming the entire event!... It was silence all around... Then finally one brave guy (or gal, I swear I dont know!) came forward and proceeded towards the hanging unfortunate! He looked clever! He came near, observed the situation closely and took a very wise decision! He slowly cut four major, strong threads which were holding the snake and left some work for the snake to get rid of the rest! After cutting four threads he rushed back as he may be expecting the snake to make some brisk movements to get rid of the rest of the threads, and if he was not fast enough then he may also fall along with the snake... and who knows the next story!!
- Giant wood spider cutting the thread
- Snake_in_web_2.jpg (109.07 KiB) Viewed 2112 times
He was wise and quick and made himself positioned in a safe place to witness the next events.... Then after some trouble the snake finally managed to get back to ground and it must have thanked the spider and GOD (for not sending CSE till then) before it disappeared into the bamboo woods again.
- Just before the snake freed itself
- Snake_in_web_3.jpg (102.79 KiB) Viewed 2112 times
...An unforgettable event for both of us and we looked each other with a silent 'wow' expression!!
A friend on another web forum told that the snake is a Bronze back and it might have tried to glide from one branch to another and caught stuck in the web of Giant Wood Spider! - quite possible!!
Nature is Amazing....!
Cheers,
Ashwini Kumar Bhat
