A photographer has captured remarkable images of a hapless young eagle losing a fierce battle with a snake – and then returning to the same spot to gobble up another serpent.
The short-toed snake eagle suffered a nasty bite to its beak when it lost a battle that was caught on camera by Druvadeep Kusumaharan in Bangalore, India.
But it appears the bird learned its lesson as it swallowed a snake whole just three days later when Kusumaharan was snapping photos in the same area.
Druvadeep Kusumaharan captured these remarkable images of a young short-toed snake eagle being bitten by a snake
The snake managed to bite the bird’s beak during a fierce struggle that lasted around 15 seconds, the photographer said
Kusumaharan photographed the bird’s failed and successful hunts in the grassland near his home in Bangalore, India
Three days after it lost its battle with a rat snake, the same juvenile bird returned and swallowed another snake whole
Kusumaharan, 30, captured both the botched and fruitful hunts on grasslands near his home last March after spending nearly three months following the bird.
The information security professional, who has spent six years photographing species across India, said he was thrilled when the eagle managed to make a successful kill.
He said: ‘When I first showed my images to my friends and family they were surprised, as they had not seen anything like this before.
A few even challenged me, telling these were digitally-manipulated images and were not real.
‘But after showing them the complete series and explaining the photos, they were convinced and congratulated me for documenting rare and raw nature at its best.’
Kusumaharan began watching the juvenile eagle after spotting it moving out of its parents’ nest and beginning to hunt snakes on its own.
Kusumaharan began watching the eagle after spotting it moving out of its parents’ nest and beginning to hunt on its own
Short-toed snake eagles eat snakes, small mammals and lizards, but this bird is still learning to hunt, said Kusumaharan
Days after the failed hunt, the eagle successfully took down a smaller snake, to the photographer’s delight
Short-toed snake eagles feed on snakes, small mammals and lizards, but Kusumaharan said initially the bird was not experienced enough to size up its prey and would try to hunt everything, regardless of size.
One day last March the bird attempted to take on a huge non-venomous rat snake but was bitten by the serpent, which managed to escape.
Kusumaharan said: ‘It dived into the bush and started jumping – to my surprise there was a huge rat snake which was taking the bird head on.
‘The fight went on for about 15 seconds, then everything stopped so I did not know if the kill was successful.
‘When I played back my images later, I was astonished to see the bird had been bitten a couple of times by the rat snake during the fight and the snake had managed to escape.
The snake fought back aggressively and tried to escape from the bird’s clutches, but the young eagle wasn’t letting go
Kusumaharan, who has spent six years photographing species across India, was thrilled when the eagle made the kill
‘Rat snakes are not venomous but do possess a very painful bite and from that day I noticed the bird started to account for the size of snakes and was very nervous hunting for a couple of days.’
Later that week, to his delight, he saw the eagle successfully take down a smaller snake.
He said: ‘The bird dived down in exactly the same area and fought with a snake and was victorious.
‘When the bird started fighting I thought this would also be a failed hunt because of the snake’s size, but I was wrong.
‘The bird was hungry and had to kill for its survival, the snake fought back aggressively and tried to escape from its clutches twice but the bird had its target locked this time.
‘I was extremely happy during this particular hunt as it was the first time it was successful in taking down a medium sized snake after a ferocious face-off between the two.’
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