Wrestling Rat Snakes; Arctic Warblers

Walked paths in southeast Cheung Chau early aft. Looking for birds, but the most interesting sighting - by far - was two large male Rat Snakes entwined in a wrestling match, in Fa Peng Valley.

The snakes were mostly lying side by side, sometimes rearing up and pushing at each other, almost twining round each other as pushed to see which was strongest (the victor should gain rights to territory, and breeding). Also even twisted round together, till heads overlapped tails and they formed a writhing circle.

I took photos and some video (which you can see here: wrestling Rat Snakes); got fairly close and the snakes broke off from their match, crossed the small stream and moved up into the woods. I estimated each was around 3 metres long - probably well exaggerating, as book on HK reptiles and amphibians says they can reach up to 225 cm.

Interesting - - the kind of thing I've only seen on tv; also, some years ago, I was told of pythons being seen wrestling in this valley. I was sceptical - Cheung Chau seems, to me, small to support breeding population of pythons. Maybe, then, these "pythons" were also Rat Snakes.

Also saw a few birds: 3 Arctic and 1  Yellow-browed Warblers, and 2 Hair-crested Drongos (also Fa Peng valley; seem to be lingering here, tho I'd be surprised if they breed: woodland not good enough I think).