There are over 2700 different species of snakes on the planet, and every single one of them is a carnivore.
Contrary to their diet of carnivores, most snakes swallow their food whole rather than chewing on it.
Because of this, snakes adjust the size of their prey to match their own: larger snake species will target larger animals or birds, while smaller species and juvenile snakes will seek tiny birds, chicks, and eggs.
Even enormous and gigantic snakes, nevertheless, will stay away from certain birds, such hawks, owls, and falcons.
Besides being natural snake hunters, these birds can fight even the biggest snake.
Even a large snake would avoid attacking a predatory bird like the above.
Let’s also see whether snakes would eat a juicy, tasty chicken and how they do it.
Seven Bird-Eating Snakes:
Eastern Rat Snake
The nonvenomous Eastern Rat Snake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) goes by many names, including the Everglades rat snake in Florida, chicken snake, pilot black snake, black rat snake, and yellow rat snake.
A few species grow to be longer than two hundred centimeters; the largest Black Rat Snake reached 230 centimeters. The shiny black Chicken Snake is between 90 and 180 centimeters in length, including the tail.
The Black Rat Snake has a black and white pattern on its belly that becomes uniformly grey towards the tail. Its mandible and neck are either white or creamy in color.
Being non-toxic, the Black Rat Snake suffocates its meal by coiling and pressing on it until it dies.
In addition to chicken eggs, the Black Rat Snake eats rodents, lizards, frogs, and chicks.
Younglings are more vulnerable to raccoons, foxes, and even domestic cats than adults, who are mostly preyed upon by humans.
Burmese python
One of the largest snake species is the Burmese python (Python bivittatus), which is nonvenomous, dark-colored, and has brown spots all over its back bordered in black.
The documented average length of a Burmese python is around five meters, despite reports of specimens as long as seven meters.
Adult Burmese pythons may grow up to 5.74 meters in length, but they often measure 3.7 meters in the wild. In captivity, the minimum size is 2.5 meters.
Since it can stay in water for 30 minutes, the Burmese python lives in swamps, marshes, rainforests, river valleys, and woodlands.
The baby Burmese python prefers land and is commonly observed in trees due to its prehensile tail, which helps it climb.
Older, bigger, and heavier snakes prefer to “sit and wait” for food, therefore they withdraw to the ground:
Heat sensors along its jaws and chemicals in its tongue help the Burmese Python hunt due to its poor eyesight.
The Burmese python takes birds and animals with its razor-sharp fangs and coils around them till they die.
Red-Tailed Boa
Red-Tailed Boa (Boa Constrictor), often known as the Common Boa, is a large, nonvenomous snake that is sometimes kept in captivity. It is native to a few Caribbean islands and tropical South America.
Compared to the Burmese Python and other giant snakes, the Red-Tailed Boa is middle-sized, measuring 0.91 to 3.96 meters and weighing up to 27 kilograms (rarely 45 kilograms).
The Red-Tailed Boa’s pigmentation varies by subspecies and even within the same subspecies, perhaps to compensate for its small size:
Depending on its hiding place, the Common Boa is brown, grey, silvery grey, cream, or red. Circles, ovals, hexagons, and jagged stripes make up its enigmatic designs.
Despite being a terrestrial species that feeds on small animals, the Red-Tailed Boa hunts from nightfall to morning. It frequently climbs trees to pursue birds.
The Red-Tailed Boa often catches its prey by the head and coils its body around its body until it kills it. This behavior is characteristic of a constriction species.
Were you aware?
Anacondas are a subspecies of Boas; Pythons and Boas are two distinct species of snakes; the primary distinction between the two is that the former lays eggs, whilst the latter gives birth to live younglings after internal incubation of the eggs.
Taylor’s Cantil
The dangerous pitviper known as Taylor’s Cantil (Agkistrodon taylori), often called Metapil (in Spanish) or the Ornate Cantil, is native to northern Mexico.
Taylor’s Cantil, the most popular name, was given in honor of Edward Harrison Taylor, a Missouri-born American herpetologist.
While it may sometimes be found close to tiny sources of water, the Tylor’s Cantil is more attracted to rocky slopes, grasslands, dry thorny woods, and tropical deciduous forests.
The body length (tail included) of the medium-sized Taylor’s Cantil viper ranges from 64 to 90 centimeters, with some individuals reportedly growing to 96 centimeters.
When Taylor’s Cantil is young, it has a yellow tip tail, orange, yellow, or white stripes, and a dark-brown coloration. As it ages, all of these colors vanish and the snake becomes much darker.
Taylor’s Cantil hunts by attacking rapidly and killing with its venom and fangs. It eats frogs, lizards, birds, and mammals.
Hunting immature snakes is easier with the yellow tip-tail, which they lose as they mature.
The young Taylor’s Cantil wags its golden tail four centimeters above the ground to attract prey.
Coachwhip Snake
Because of its scale pattern, which resembles a braided whip, the Coachwhip Snake (Masticophis flagellum), a nonvenomous native of Mexico and the United States, is often referred to as the Whip Snake.
The Coachwhip Snake has a slender body and may range in length from 127 to 235 centimeters, depending on the subspecies. It weighs about 1.2 to 1.8 kg.
The Coachwhip Snake has a very flexible coloring scheme. It begins with a black head and, depending on its surroundings, progressively changes to dark brown, light brown, tan, pink, or even white.
In addition to eating lizards, amphibians, insects, and even other snakes, the Coachwhip Snake also consumes rodents and small birds due to its slim build.
The Coachwhip Snake, in contrast to most other snakes, is only active during the day. It is most often seen during the hottest summer days, when most other snakes are dormant.
In addition to liking the heat, the Coachwhip Snake vigorously pursues its victim throughout the day when hunting, generally with its head held high.
The Coachwhip Snake, although not being poisonous, just grabs and grips its food with its jaws while devouring it alive. It does not coil around its prey to kill it before eating.
The Coachwhip Snake can achieve a speed of 6.43 kilometers per hour, making it one of the quickest snakes in the world with superb vision.
Speckled Kingsnake
The southeast is home to the nonvenomous pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus), often known as the carpet snake, bullsnake, or pilot snake.
Pine snakes are strong for their size, measuring 120–230 cm (tail included) and weighing 1.8–3.6 kg.
Pine snakes are white to light grey or yellow with deep black, brown, or reddish-brown spots that fade from deeper at the head to lighter toward the tail.
The Pine Snake climbs trees and tiny shrubs, yet its color scheme matches its terrestrial environment.
The pine snake is a skilled burrower and diurnal with few nighttime variations.
The Speckled Kingsnake sometimes feeds on fish as well as other snakes, both poisonous and nonvenomous.
Like other nonvenomous snakes, the Speckled Kingsnake captures, squirms about, and kills its prey before eating it.
Pine Snake
The carpet snake, bullsnake, or pilot snake (Pituophis melanoleucus) lives in the southeast.
Pine snakes are strong for their size, measuring 120–230 cm (tail included) and weighing 1.8–3.6 kg.
Pine snakes are white to light grey or yellow with deep black, brown, or reddish-brown spots that fade from deeper at the head to lighter toward the tail.
The Pine Snake climbs trees and tiny shrubs, yet its color scheme matches its terrestrial environment.
The pine snake is a skilled burrower and diurnal with few nighttime variations.
It has been observed that the pine snake increases its body temperature by bathing in the early light.
As adorable as that may seem, it’s important to remember that pine snakes are still predators and that their diet includes a variety of prey, including rodents, small mammals, amphibians, birds, and eggs.
The pine snake, which is nonvenomous, kills its prey by coiling and smothering it until it is dead, at which point it swallows the victim whole.
Were you aware?
Scientists believe that when a pine snake feels threatened or furious, it may mimic the sound of a dangerous rattlesnake thanks to a cartilaginous crest located in front of its vocal cords.
Final Thoughts
Snakes eat flesh to survive since they are predators and cannot chase bigger prey. This includes eating birds when they are young.
But not all snake species consume birds. For instance, Garter snakes are too small to eat birds, whereas cobras prefer to consume other snakes and reptiles.
Nonvenomous snakes hunt by coiling their bodies around their prey and then eating it.
Some diurnal snakes sunbathe in the morning to warm themselves, even though most bird-eating snakes are nocturnal.
A snake’s eating habits are influenced by its surroundings, age, hunting prowess, and prey size (relative to its size).
