The Pyjama Frog and the Snake:
On one of our trails, Ramesh Zarmekar pointed out to something very interesting and exciting for all of us, a carpet of macro flowers perfect for Parimala and Gireesh to get involved with their macro lenses. Deepa was behind every living form and I, from the last was the opportunistic person looking, strolling and taking in the fresh air after a nice steady downpour.
Sooner, Ramesh called us to show the big battle on, a pretty long, slender Green Vine Snake had caught hold of an Frog (I would call it the Pyjama Frog because of complete white under belly) and by the time we reached, the Frog was a dead duck and the snake was finding a place to relax and swallow its breakfast, a heavy one to say.
It was amazing to see how the snake with the frog in its mouth was moving inside the bush without any support upwards vertically, amazed to see and know the weight it could carry (it could be easily said, the frog weighed much more than the slender built snake).
It was to an extent not happy to see 5-6 curious people surrounding the bush peeping to witness the moments and photographing them and so probably it decided to move from the bottom to the top that was visibly out of our eyesight reach and between thick foliage. Soon, our excitement calmed down and we were only witness to the happenings as the snake slowly made its way up with its breakfast.
As it reached the top, we left the place to leave the predator in peace to have its prey without further disturbances.
The Assassin Bug:
Some moths are nocturnal and prefer to spend the day time roosting on walls and this is taken as an advantage by their predators who are in search of food. The moth below was roosting happily as any other day and probably never realized it would well be its final day as this 'assassin bug' came over chasing a cockroach but instead found this resting moth as its prey for the day, the lucky cockroach survived and the moth was not to be so lucky.
Our Guru-G, Karthikeyan explained how these assassin bugs sting their prey to make them immobile and then suck out the entire mass from within the prey and rightly so they are named as 'assassins'.
What wonders, nature have in store for us, we just need to open up our eyes and observe!
Had completely forgotten...thank you for the lovely images, and making me revisit that visit! :)
ReplyDeleteDeepa.
Beautiful snaps!! great timing.
ReplyDeleteDangerously awsome!!
ReplyDeleteThe vine snake is gorgeous -- I've held them when visiting snake parks, and they feel awesome as they slip through your hands. Thanks for sharing these shots.
ReplyDeleteDamyanti
Co-host, A to Z Challenge 2013
That must have been amazing to see!
ReplyDeletenice captures
ReplyDeletegood shots..!
ReplyDeleteA Rat's Nibble
Wonderful captures . Pictures show size does not matter .
ReplyDeleteExcellent pics.. Loved it..
ReplyDeleteMANUPONNAPPA.BLOGSPOT.IN
Anytime Deepa - how can I forget those numerous laughter moments :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Niranjan, Aravind, Kalpesh, Manu, Suresh, Mukthiyar, Damyanti, Dhiraj. appreciate :)
Thanks Ellen Paul - nice to know your views :)
You know Santosh, I came across my father's copy of Whitaker & Ashok Captain's Snakes of India and it was so fascinating to learn about these reptiles. But, for the life of me, I can never imagine myself looking for these creepy crawlies!! Yet, I love reading about them and you have done a fantastic job, as usual!
ReplyDeletethanks Sangeeta, they are actually harmless (unless you approach in a provocative manner) and wonderful specimens, some of them test your patience to the core by not budging an inch for hours and sometimes days together especially the vipers.
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