Cobra killing toad, plus rat snake and a few migrants

Walking along Don Bosco Road (south of the Sports Ground) this afternoon, I heard rustling in the leaves; looked down, and saw a Chinese cobra maybe five metres away. Only a small one - half a metre long? It was still at first, I think as it had seen me.

 

As I watched, saw something jump below the cobra (both were downhill of me, so not moving in my direction!). The cobra moved down too - fast. Looking through binoculars, I then saw the cobra had a toad in its mouth.

 

The toad was big relatively to the cobra - it's head was a good bit bigger than the cobra's head. The cobra was clinging on, with prolonged bite. Even though surely had pumped in fair bit of venom, the toad at first looked about okay. Had milky white, latex like liquid on either side of its head - exuded in attempt to deter predator eating it.

Took this terrible photo - the cobra's just visible to right of centre (from "respectful" distance; slope covered in leaves, so I didn't fancy trying to get closer, then maybe stumbling and getting close to and upsetting the cobra: even tho small, has venom enough to kill a human).

 

The toad looked set to walk/jump free, but the cobra clung on. I watched for maybe 15 mins or more, maybe half an hour. Occasionally, the cobra's hood was extended; had bold yellowish pattern across back of the blackish hood.

 

Eventually, the toad become about still, though the cobra was pretty still too. A little blood on top of the toad, some on the cobra's lower jaw. So, rather gruesome, but fascinating.

I left with the cobra having shifted its grip a little, from side rather than from the rear. Though I know snakes can greatly extend their jaws, I still wondered how the small snake could swallow the relatively large toad. But, had to move on.

 

I got to thinking that thewarm temp might suit smakes; had heard from snake expert that temp is key to the times they're active: many snakes active at night in summer, not so much as aim to be nocturnal as the temperatures then suit them, can be too hot during day.

While still thinking this, maybe another hundred metres further along, I saw another snake: this time maybe 1.5 metres long, brown, cross path in front of me. Think this was a rat snake: not venomous.

 

Migratory birds

I also saw a few migratory birds in southeast Cheung Chau. Most surprising was a Pale-legged Leaf-Warbler: late for this species, which is mainly a passage migrant, only occasionally seen in Hong Kong in winter.

 

A male Daurian Redstart was also notable: this is one of our most handsome winter visitors, not real common on Chung Chau, where I might only see two or three in a winter.

 

Plus, saw a couple of Chinese Blackbirds (surely deserve "splitting" from Blackbirds of Eurpope), heard a Dusky Warbler and couple of Yellow-browed Warblers.