by Three Ducks Escorted A Dᴇᴀᴅʟʏ Tiger Snake Out Of Their Lake
A lucky photographer managed to capture the incredible moment three ducks are escorting a Dᴇᴀᴅʟʏ tiger snake away from their lake. The ᴠᴇɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs snake came from the shore and was swimming about in their lake.
Tim Kemp was in Whiteman Park north of Perth this week when he spotted the snake making its way to a patch of floating vegetation where the ducks had been sitting. He immediately braced for the ᴡᴏʀsᴛ, expecting the ducks to become the snake’s next ᴍᴇᴀʟ only to then see them calmly lead the reptile back onto dry land. Mr Kemp told Daily Mail Australia he’d never seen anything like it in all his years as a wildlife photographer. Nature photographer Tim Kemp witnessed the remarkable moment three ducks escorted a tiger snake back to shore in Whiteman Park near Perth this week. “I think the ducks knew they weren’t in any ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀ. None of them had a nest on the vegetation they were relaxing on. And they’re just too big for the tiger snake to fit in its ɢᴏʙ.” ‘As the minutes ticked by and there weren’t any feathers flying or wings splashing, I realised if the birds knew the snake was there, they didn’t care,’ he said.
“Smaller birds and frogs would have been on the menu, had the snake been able to find them.”Kemp was surprised at the sight of three ducks, from different species, coming together to shoo the snake out of their lake. “The ducks weren’t any ᴡᴏʀsᴇ for wear. Several breeding pairs swam off together. I watched a male Shelduck showing off to a female. A number of swans and ibises came gliding in for a cleaning and relaxation session on the little green island,” he said. “I walked back to my car, thinking about how a bunch of different species of birds worked together to guide that Tiger snake away from their hangout.” Tiger snakes are extremely ᴠᴇɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs to humans and can ᴘʀᴇʏ on small birds and mammals.
Mr Kemp said the birds were unfazed by the tiger snake and were far too big to be ᴇᴀᴛᴇɴ. Tiger snakes account for the second-highest number of snake ʙɪᴛᴇs in Australia and are highly ᴠᴇɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs.
