Tweeters,

While sipping espresso on our deck early yesterday morning, my wife and I
saw an American Robin tugging at something in the grass about 30 yards away
from us. The robin jumped back, then pecked at whatever it was, and grabbed
it by what appeared to be the tail, tugging more, then releasing it and
jumping back again. By then, I figured the robin was going after a garter
snake. The robin moved off, and when I walked down to that spot, I found
that it was a garter snake, which then disappeared under the grass.



I went back to my perch on the deck, and in a few minutes the robin moved
over to the area where it had been previously going after the snake. To my
surprise, the robin found either it or another snake, grabbed the tail and
started tugging at it, pulling backward: the snake pulled harder and the
robin eventually gave up, releasing it.



We thought it surprising and entertaining that a robin would go after a
garter snake, but we were even more surprised a few hours later. I spotted a
robin grabbing at something off the side of the gravel road past the barn,
and when it grabbed it and tugged, it was yet another garter snake: this one
was much smaller (about 6 in) than the previous snake I saw. Several times
the robin grabbed the snake and dropped it. My wife came down the road, saw
me watching the robin, asked me what it was doing, and I told her I thought
it was attacking the snake. Just then, the robin flew off with the now-limp
snake, which looked like a long, fat worm. (This robin has its second set of
nestlings for the year nearby someplace in the remnant Christmas-tree farm.)




How the robin would feed on this prey, or feed it to its nestlings puzzles
me - it's not as if the robin was a hawk that would hold the snake down and
rip pieces off to feed its young. Any thoughts on this? Has anyone else out
there seen robins preying on garter or other small snakes?



May all your birds be identified,



Denis DeSilvis

Roy, WA

Mailto: avnacrs4birds at q.com