Cool observation

[Faunaofthenorth]

yesterday in the evening, i was out herping on an abandoned piece of land that has two communal dens, and while i only found two yealings and a gravid redbelly, when i was looking under a piece of flat rubber that is embedded into the ground which is also curled and forms a small tunnel under it connecting the two ends which are flat and protuding out of the ground. I usually find piles, but i went a little too early in the evening, but anyways, i lifted up the smaller end which is usally the escape route from the other end when i noticed a fairly recent snake shed and also...small birds feathers! i do know that small rodents have inhabited it before but have not seen them for a few years so i do not think it was rodents. I also saw coming out of where the hole is, there was a snake track that was obviously made by a snake, and no other animal. i will post pics when i go out herping there again later today

[adamanteus]

Were you able to identify the snake from the slough?

[Faunaofthenorth]

yes, i live in northern Minnesota, so we have only two species, the common and eastern garters, and the red-belly snake, and it was definitely a larger garter, and probably female because of the size, i was shocked to find the feathers, and excited too! haha I have caught extremely large garters that have regurgitated partially digested birds before but that was only about 3 in the 1,000 some snakes i have caught since my days as a neonate lol jk but no seriously i will post pics as soon as i can

[guidofatherof5]

It sounds like you have a good reason to return to that spot.

[Jeff B]

There is no doubt that adult females can eat baby birds, especially wren and sparrow, we have a lot of wrens still nesting around here, do you have wrens nesting up in Minn?

[Faunaofthenorth]

i'm almost positive, the last time i had an experience with it was a few years back when i had caught an eastern that easily broke the record for length in mn, and when i caught her at my neighbors, he said he saw it in his drive way next to a lilac bush that had a small robin's nest in it, and he stated that he saw it with a baby in her mouth, and the momma bird was fluttering around pecking at it and flipping it around but he said she wouldnt let go, she even lost an eye, and a good portion of her tail but still refused to let go, and that was when it regurgitated it in the snake bag that i had it in

[Faunaofthenorth]

Here is the first of the photos i took, the focus is a little off because of the horse flies and mosquitos constantly draining my blood lol

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/bird_remains_1_1.jpg

and here is the second

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/bird_remains_2.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

those don't look as if they have been passed through a digestive tract.... I have several snakes that have eaten birds before and the feces looks like a compacted elongated mass of compressed feathers... all of the feathers off the whole bird in a single pellet. they are no longer fluffy like the ones in your photo. Possibly, a rodent carried them under there as they often do to use as nesting material....

[Faunaofthenorth]

it is very much possible, that's the reason why i posted them, i just wanted to clear it up with myself