I witnessed an amazing sight when I went
walking Sun morning on one of my favourite birding tracks at Durras.
Surprisingly few birds, but at one point just off the track there's a soak
(which is rapidly drying out due to summer heat and lack of heavy rain
and now measures approx 3 X 2 metres). It contains a jumble of
logs, some blackened by bushfires, which when wet can have a
remarkably glistening snakelike appearance. On several previous occasions
I have mistaken these logs for reptiles, then found when checking with the
binoculars I had overlooked a real Red-bellied Black Snake.
On Sunday I detected the real Red-bellied
Black straight away - and it was much more active
than on previous occasions. It slithered into the remaining
water, probably no more than 30cms deep (I didn't actually check!) submerging
repeatedly then raising its head with forked tongue flicking,
fascinating to watch & making me wish I had my video or at least a
camera. Then suddenly the apparent tranquillity was shattered as all hell
broke loose. Brilliant red and glossy black coils flashed as the
snake writhed and wrestled with something, but what? Just as
I saw a grey/brown body the snake lost its grip and I realised the
prey was an eel which quickly slid below the surface. More fruitless
pursuit by the snake followed, after which it became motionless, with
its head and about 20cms of its body raised in what I would think was a classic
strike position. It remained that way for probably five minutes.
Then in some debris on the edge of the water behind the snake there was a
slight movement - detected by the snake - and this time there was no mistake as
it grabbed its victim by the head. The evidence of the first strike
was clearly visible & I presume the venom was taking effect as the
struggles grew weaker and were soon over. Then it was dinner time as
the snake proceeded to swallow its prey head first and whole (as snakes
do).
My impression was that the RBBS was a very healthy specimen about
6 feet long and almost as thick as my wrist while the eel was about 40
cms. The whole episode, viewed from a distance of about 10 metres thru
binoculars, took about 30 - 40 fascinating minutes.
Cheers
Rod
Rod Mackay
