New life is always exciting whether babies, hatchlings, puppies, kittens, fauns, fox kits, bunnies, and a myriad more. Some folk even believe baby skunks are cute right up until the time they grow up and use their unique offensive weapon.

Equally impressive is the will to survive and live. “Fight or Flight “ are the options any creature must choose from when danger suddenly appears. Fast animals like deer run when spooked; rabbits, groundhogs, and other ground dwellers scurry into their burrows, and squirrels into their holes, at the first sign of a predator; as noted, skunks have a different type of defense; and bird feeding stations miraculously empty out as birds scatter into cover when a hawk is spotted anywhere in the vicinity. But when faced with no other alternative than to “fight” one can only admire the effort and tenacity a prey subject brings to the battle to survive and continue living.

On a trip to Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive just northwest of Orlando this past winter our small group of observers witnessed just such a battle for life and survival right down to the bitter end. A Great Blue Heron had just caught a snake when we happened onto the scene. (Photo 1) The snake was wriggling violently trying to shake loose from the Heron’s grasp. Unable to free itself, the snake began to fight back by curling itself around the Heron’s beak and neck and while we could not hear it the snake seemed to be yelling at the Heron. (Photo 2)

Continuing the battle, the snake succeeded in wrapping itself around the Heron’s beak and neck and the Heron clearly appeared to be exhibiting some discomfort. (Photo 3) As the snake, now wishing it was a python, completely surrounded the Heron’s head it even managed to cover the Heron’s eyes briefly blinding it. (Photo 4 and at top of page) The Heron then began to vigorously shake its head trying to dislodge the snake, but not wanting to let its meal escape.

As a result the snake began to slowly slide down the Heron’s beak and losing strength began to loosen its grip on the Heron. (Photo 5) After several minutes of forceful rocking its neck and head up and down and back and forth, the snake finally fell off the Heron’s beak but was still in its grasp and giving out its last gasps of breath. (Photo 6) Now that the snake was finally overcome and ready for consumption the Heron needed time to recoup for it also was very much spent from the battle. (Photo 7)

Unfortunately one of the shortcomings of the very popular Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive is the fact that it is a one-lane one-way drive. While this entire encounter had taken little more than 10 minutes we had now backed up a long line of irate oblivious to the drama drivers who were anxious to get by us and on to search for alligators. Consequently we were not able to stay around to watch and photograph the heron enjoy the fruits of its victory.

For we humans, secure in the comfort of our homes and our society, it is only when we encounter an incident like this between a predacious Great Blue Heron and a poor hapless snake (considering most folks view of snakes, “poor” and “hapless” are not adjectives one usually ascribes to them) that we realize that such dramatic events must occur billions of times every day. Prey species are out there peacefully going about their business finding food, raising young, being cute, and sometimes even adorable, when a Big Bad Wolf predator comes along, just going about its own business, which is simply trying to stay alive as well.

Secure in our ability to go shopping for food, clothing, shelter and all of our needs in life, we don’t have to go out and catch our food with our hands, much less with our mouths as many birds do. Observing the life and death struggle that billions of critters go through everyday should bring an appreciation for how simple our lives really are, pandemics notwithstanding. With that realization we can now get back to our grousing about the government and the difficulties we have dealing with a different kind of predator: politicians who go to Washington to do good and end up doing well. Anyone want to be a politician?

For more information on Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, see: www.sjrwmd.com/lands/recreation/lake-apopka/. For a past Hart Beat column including Groove-billed Anis photographed at Lake Apopka, see: static1.squarespace.com/static/5b9bd1b9697a984c75661b0f/t/5bf9c36a0e2e726025f6d43d/1543095149488/HB170401CrosswordBird.pdf

For an outstanding video on what the predator Big Bad Wolf did to Yellowstone National Park, see: aeon.co/videos/how-the-return-of-just-66-wolves-rejuvenated-yellowstone-s-entire-ecosystem