Sneaky snake attack on frog

[Randy Stout]

I was out in the backyard a few minutes ago to feed the fish.  Turned the pump off, so the waterfall wasn't running, and once it went dry, this garter snake slithered out from some rocks and slowly moved towards two frogs in the spill way.  I ran to grab my camera, and got a few quick shots off, and was just setting up for a different view, when the snake launched at the closest frog and grabbed his head!  Needless to say, the frog wasn't much in favor of being eaten, and launched himself and the snake across the spillway and crashed into the far wall, knocking the snake off.  The frog figured this wasn't a good place to hang out, and jumped back into the pond.

Amazing to watch unfold.  I would have never thought such a small snake would try for a frog that big.

GH4, 100-400, handheld.  DOF was impossible to get everything in focus, but because this frame shows the snakes tongue out, I thought it told the story the best.

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Andrea B.]

Yes, the snake's tongue sticking out is way cool!

I tried to capture a photo of the local garter snakes where we were staying this summer in Maine, but they always zoomed away too quickly. Sure can move fast when they see a camera. Everytime I came upon one without the camera, they would give me a "look" and slowly slither away.

[David H. Hartman]

The snake is delusional.

[Anthony]

That's great, capturing a snake hunt, with the snake sliding beautifully through the frame.  Do you have any more of this event?

[armando_m]

Wonderful capture!

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone:

Anthony:  I took a series of 8 images, with different focus points, to see what would tell the story best.  I have several with the frogs in focus, and the snake blurred, just not as effective. This was my favorite.  Because it was handheld, no chance for a successful merge of the images.

Cheers


Randy

[pluton]

Good catch.  It seems that snakes don't always possess good judgement about which size prey to go for.