Backyard hunter

Yesterday began as just another day. Woke up late, sat staring at social media for a couple of hours, had many cups of tea, watched the rain and then it was afternoon. Just when I thought that may be I should say hello to all the pending work, I hear the words, "pambu, pambu!" Jumped out of my chair and ran out, and there it was, a rather long and thick rat snake slowly crawling along the wall separating our compound from the neighbours. Big rat snake! No need to catch it, but I should get a photo, I thought. I moved back slowly without alarming the snake till I was inside the door, then ran in to my room to get my camera.

I have just two cheap lenses, an 18-55 mm and a 55-250 mm. I needed the 55-250 to get pictures without troubling the snake, and damn! The lens fitted to the camera was 18-55 mm and with a cheap extension tube that I used for photographing a little frog last night. Get it off fast, I thought, but the only the lens came off, leaving the extension tube still attached to the camera body! Try as I might, it wouldn't come off. I try with my hands, I try with a handkerchief, with my t-shirt...damn you stupid tubes! Finally the extension tube decided to leave the camera behind. I ran out after fitting the next lens fast, but the snake was nowhere to be seen. 

Just as I turned back, my father standing near the door points out the snake, which had climbed up the wall and was peeking out at me from the shade of garden plants. I could only manage a couple of shots of its head, before it decided that I was not worth its time, jumped to the other side and  vanished. How do they do that? They are like Ninjas!

Rat snake (Ptyas mucosa). The common name is slightly misleading as this species loves to eat
frogs, may be even more than rats.

A few minutes later, I was sitting inside looking at the photos I had taken, and I heard those words again, but in combination with the word "thavala". There it was again, this time chasing a bull frog across our yard. They went around the house, I ran back in to get the camera again. By the time I got back to them, two were becoming one, and not in a good way. The snake had the frog pinned to a corner, and was already swallowing the still squeaking prey. It was difficult to get a shot given the way its body was coiled up, but I managed one shot without creating much disturbance to the snake. It finished the meal in about three minutes, and very wisely decided to crawl in to a bandicoot hole in that corner. The last I saw of it was the beautiful yellow tail, criss-crossed with a network of black lines, slowly disappearing in to the hole.

The snake made a quick, yet bloody, work of the bull frog.

Fairly good day for me and the snake, worst day ever for that frog.