...even if it is something that's already floating around on the internets, which I suspect it may well be. I received this from a friend but not sure where it actually originated. The claim is that this happened on "The Snake River" ...the only one of which I'm aware runs through Idaho. ...but unless that bird flew a long long way with snake warpped around it's neck I guess more like Texas. ...one heck of a story and one fine lookin' T-Rat in either case.

The story:
This has to be the weirdest thing that ever floated by me on the Snake River. They were stuck together in death lock, each wanting to kill the other first. My guess is that the falcon snatched up the tasty snake, and it somehow got its tail around the falcon's neck, strangling it in midair causing both of them to crash into the river. They are both alive and well, considering. I think a few more minutes and the snake would have won. The tail was actually tied in a knot around the neck, and getting tighter by the second. I got the snake untied, and well, as you can see, they both made it. This is another one of those stories you tell, and are always acknowledged with "yeah, right!" Well, here's the proof. Neither of them bit me or scratched me; the snake didn't want to stop biting the falcon's leg, and only let go after I had untied everything else. I got the water out of the falcon's lungs with birdie inversion technique, and stayed with him until he was almost dried off in the sun, and flying a little. Ball of snake and falcon, that is the weirdest thing I have pulled out of the water so far.

Wow, thanks for sharing!

I'm glad to see that the snake got the upper hand for a change.

Looks like a juvenile red-shouldered hawk and a ratsnake. These species rule out the Snake River but still a cool series of photos. Thanks for sharing!

Edited to say--I just re-read your note before the story...east Texas is plausible for sure. Is there a river that the locals call "Snake River" there?

Cameron

That hawk has been identified to me by a good friend, who is a raptor rehab expert, as an immature Red-tailed. That's my opinion too but I'm certainly open to debate on this one due to the dishoveled state of the bird.

Anyway, glad you guys enjoy it. ...what a trip eh!

Agreed, not a Falco, but rather Buteo.

wow!

That warms the cockles of my heart!
Snake kicked that raptor's ass!

Wow, that was pretty cool! TFS!

what a crazy series! i love some of the things that pop up on this forum!
josh

Wow, amazing. That bird looks thoroughly beat! It's hard to say for sure, but it appears small for a redtail. Also the tail looks long, but these could be because it
is soaked. I think it might be an accipiter.

R~

From Google:

Old Snake River is a Subdivision in North Liberty County Texas

and also: http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/dpn/images/snake246-map.htm

Unbelieveable.

San Marcos River, Hays Co., Texas.
I meant to say Comal River, Comal Co, TX
Caryy on, again

Carry on.

just goes to show...ALWAYS have your camera handy... I had a redtail swoop down and grab a 20" helleri I was walking up towards, to photograph, once. I was so busy chucking rocks and hollering at it... never occurred to me to get pics.. till it was too late... Had a speckled rattler come floating up to the dock, at Willow Beach, on the Colorado Rv, when I worked there, back in the 80's... but this was flat-out crazy... jim

Thanks Mr. Hubbs.

As for that the bird is ...hmmm??? I just can't get anything positive out of it. Does seem small for Red-tailed and long tailed ...but doesn't look right for anything else either. The guy refers to it as a falcon, which it obviously is not. I'll have to contact a higher authority ...anyone got his phone number?

Crazy!

I'm not sure either way, but I''d tend to lean more towards an accipiter rather than a red-tail. Compare it to this immature red-tail Pic:


It seems to me that accipiters would have more of that vertical barring you see on the chest, and the tail especially seems more like an accipiter with that kind of barring.

Well, just got a reply from a very high level birder and even he is having a tough time with the wet plumage. ...hmmm, amazingly tough little id problem here.

That Sea Gull almost got wasted... those dumb birds

Wow. Cool find!
What about a juvenile osprey? Sure looks like one to me.
--Berkeley

WOW!!! now that was a pretty cool story and pics!

Holy cow BoonMan! That's some out-of-the-box thinking there. Still looks too small to me ...Osprey is big ...at looks big. ...I have another pic that I can't post at the monment but it shows the bill well in profile and it is not nearly hooked enough for Osprey ...leg color is another problem.

Immature Osprey
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27531361@N08/3337102728/

I still think it is an immature red-shouldered hawk. Red-shouldered love to eat snakes and I am guessing that this one underestimated the weight and fell in the drink. Here are a bunch of images for comparison.

https://www.google.com/search?q=immature+red-shouldered+hawk&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&rlz=1I7ADSA_enUS452&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Y64ET-7sC6PpsQLB_uGRCg&biw=1229&bih=757&sei=Zq4ET4L9JOW2sQKC25iRCg

edited--I am not a birder though!

If that is a young bird, you would have to wonder if the snake made it into a nest at the edge of the water and they both ended up falling in.
I'm glad I saw this. Thanks for posting.

Cayrip - I honor that suggestion of Red-shouldered, but the lack of the bright yellow cere (the fleshy base of the bill) and weakly streaked breast don't support that. ...although, in the google image page there is an immature that does have a very weakly streaked breast, closer to the size I would expect for Red-shouldered too.

Jason - another interesting out-of-the-box suggestion! To me the bird looks beyond fledgling size and maturity ...but I wouldn't say no emphatically.

monklet--I agree about the yellow cere but I was going with immature (is it a immature Cooper's???). I sent this link to my brother who is an ornithologist (he took the blue pill) to get his opinion. The wet rag look definitely makes it hard. Regardless (it is just a bird afterall )--very cool photos and experience for those involved.

I will report back with my brother's response.

Cameron

It's a bat. Hairy one at that. That snake better look out lest it get rabies.

Raptors are a really dumb family of birds. Anything that large that is intimidated by the harassment of a hummingbird has got to be dumb. I see that happening all the time.

My money is Red Tail. Those feet are quite large for a shinned.

Yep, definitely not Sharp-shinned ...those are way smaller than they look until you get 'em in hand. But it's vageuly possible it's a Cooper's ..although, those are whambus feet for Cooper's also.

edit: Way BIGGER than you thought till you get 'em in hand.

Here's a link to another photo of a wet Cooper's hawk. I think that's what it is..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/searchnetmedia/4929997425/

Well, for one, that is a mature Cooper's in that photo ...although a sad, wet looking one, and the bird in question is an immature which really bears little resemblance. As Repcora noticed the legs and feet on our bird appear to my eye more robust that even that bird ...I just don't get Cooper's out of our bird ...not that it isn't.

I've got contacts who will be able to assure me of the id ...just haven't gotten responses yet. It may well be that the scalation on the tarsi in the first image well by prove diagnostic for Buteo rather that Accipiter.

Fun mystery ...we'll get it.

But Monklet; from all the immature/baby birds I have seen and handled, the feet always look disproportionately large to the rest of the bird until it becomes physically mature and get its full plumage. Head and feet always look too big in juvie birds. Plus the bird is very wet which makes its torso look smaller.

Is it missing a toe? I hope not... cause I'm lack toes intolerant jim

I'll bet that bird will think twice before going after a snake again...
Oh, and I think it looks like an Owl...


Babies...aren't they cute?

Hmmphf...



Double Hmmphf.

Well, the beaks look similar...

Funny, should have mentioned that just after I started actively birding I ran across a Great Horned Owl nest in the crotch of Sycamore in Griffith Park in L.A. ...your pic could just have well have been that scene ...there were rabbit bones and parts at that base of the tree. It was a trip!

Excellent...thanks for sharing!

I would agree with juv. Red-shouldered Hawk.

Hmmph

Neat! Thanks for posting.

My pic showed 3 baby owls in a sycamore tree in Salinas...not to be confused with a partridge in a pear tree...

Say what? ...wouldst thou suggest I was mistook a partridge in a pear tree for a trio of owlets in a sycamore ...dare you. I challenge thou to a duel!

The verdict from my brother and his ornithologist groups is that it is an immature light-morph broad-winged hawk but they are only 85% sure. Size, color, etc., are right but they would need to see the tail for final confirmation.

Not an owl---our North American owls have feathered legs except for burrowing owls and it is not a burrowing owl.

Eye color is wrong for a red-shouldered hawk.

I love these games even if it is a bird.

Cameron

Thanks Cameron ...That did cross my mind ...for some reason I didn't quite gell up on it though. Still waiting for feedback from another source. Seems like it could be locked down.

My birder contacts are waffling now....I keep getting emails from them with different birds and reasons. Oh well...will it be a forever unknown!???

Very cool story.

As for the bird, I would go with immature coopers hawk. Long tail, yellow base of beak, long legs, size, distribution... everything fits to me.

Thank you!