An encounter at Vedanthangal

This article is linked in I and the Bird #98.

White-throated kingfisher - Photo by Mr Ramanan

This is a White-throated kingfisher, common in my neighbourhood and familiar to me.

Less than a foot, with a beak that looks like its too heavy for its body, and with a cackling and long cry.

(Even as I write this post, I can hear it calling outside my window)

Olive Keelback / Atretium schistosum
Originally uploaded by kamalnv / Ophiographer

This is an Olive Keelback, or so I was informed.   (I found this picture on Flickr.  Do take a look at kamalnv's other snake photos. He calls himself an ophiographer - someone who loves to photograph snakes!!)

The olive keelback is  unfamiliar to me. Found in freshwater  water bodies like ponds, common in south India, and maybe a foot and a half when full grown.  

Mama keelback lays eggs - about 10-30 of them - generally between January and April, and the baby snakes are half a foot long or so.

What do you think would happen in an encounter between bird and snake? 

I would bet on the snake as victor wouldn't you?  But Mr Ramanan was witness to an encounter where the bird just decimated the snake, well in an indirect sort of way.  

Read on...

Mr Ramanan recounts,

27th March 2009:  Vedanthangal sanctuary visit.  1:45 pm.  3 MNS members, sitting on a bench under a tree, lining the tank bund.  A white-breasted/(throated) kingfisher lands a branch some 20 ft away.

The bird was looking intently at the crevices formed between the stones studding the waterside of the bund. Suddenly it made a sharp dive towards the bund, caught a wriggling animal and flew back to its perch where it started battering the struggling animal to either stun or kill it. 

We thought that the victim was a skink, but when the bird sat still for a brief moment we could see that it had caught a small snake. 

Photo by Mr Ramanan

After some time the kingfisher flew away with the snake still in its mouth. Thinking that the show was over two of us moved away while the third stayed back to rest for some more time. When he rejoined us after about 30 minutes he mentioned that the bird had appeared twice more and caught a snake each time!

We returned to the bench after another 45 minutes or so. A local man sitting there informed us that during our absence the kingfisher had caught three more snakes while one snake which had emerged from the crevice when the bird was not around managed to survive. He showed us this snake which turned out to be a freshly hatched olive keelback. It was being mobbed by black ants which were trying to eat the yolk material still adhering to its skin. We took some photos to help in identification. 

When we looked up the kingfisher was there once again! In the next 30 minutes it caught two more snakes and one snake managed to survive thanks to the bird’s absence. After 4 PM the bird did not appear again.

The mother olive keelback seems to have laid its clutch in the crevice formed by the dressed stones lining the bund. And the bird seems to be aware of the hatchlings coming out one after another. In 130 minutes or so the kingfisher had caught 8 snakes and taken them away, probably to its nest, whereas only two snakes managed to survive. It is possible that the bird had caught some more snakes before our arrival, and also a few snakes might have moved away to survive. 

Mr Ramanan further elaborated that this is the nesting time for the whitebreasted kingfisher, and during that period, in order to feed its young, it looks voraciously for food.  It is not like the shrike, which kind of build a larder of dead prey.

Now this report, generated a lot of dialogue and sharing among MNS members.  While newbies like me, went wow! and amazing! etc etc, other senior members had more experiences to add!!

Preston Ahimaz recalled that, "I once saw a white-throat pick up baby squirrels from a coconut palm where their mother was depositing them, one at a time, from her nest in our kitchen after the nest was disturbed. " 

Sripad wondered whether the varied diet of the KF could be a reason for its "success as a species?  What I would like to know is, do other species of Kingfisher like the Stork Billed KF and the Pied KF follow the eating habits of the White Breasted KF. I think if they did, even their numbers would be as high as the WB KF. I have only seen the Stork Billed KF once,
early last year in Chennai.It would be physically difficult for a Small Blue to catch crabs and skinks. The Pied KF seems to have evolved the hovering ability to exclusively catch fish,there is no  doubt that they are only fish eaters . 

For me, it also explained why the KFs are common around my home, where there is no water body and no fish.  They love my neighbour's garden - probably feasting on all the creepy crawlies there.

The olive keelback snake is one of the more benign snakes, and does not go around biting, supposedly, and also eats mosquito larvae.  

Arun's wry observation that they say that "the WBK is neither a King, (they are so common) nor a fisher, (they eat umpteen things other than fish)!" is an apt sign-off!

About Vedanthangal

Its a bird sanctuary about 80 kms from Madras/Chennai, off the Chinglepet-Trichy highway.  There is a central water body, with the bund all around lined with viewing towers and benches.  Water birds like open-billed storks, painted stork, cormorants and some pelicans roost here, though Nelapattu in Andhra Pradesh  is more popular with the pelicans.

Read more Vedanthangal stories here.

Read Charlie's (of 10000birds.com) account here.