YaJustHaddabeThere.

If you feel history is repeating itself, well done. It is.

Brown Falcon are very active at the Treatment Plant at the moment, as it seems are snakes in the close of the warm weather.
This bird didn’t fool me.  I knew it had intentions.  That it only moved one or two fence posts at a time was the first clue. When a vehicle drove down the road past EE and I, and then past Brown, and it didn’t even flinch, I knew.

YaJustHaddabeThere.

Settle in for a long wait. My first frame of the encounter was shot a 1:53pm.  The last one 2:42pm. And the bird was still in residence at that stage.
Here’s a summary and then we’ll let the images tell the story.
We noted the Falcon on the fence as we drove down. It was not in a hurry to move, and it was apparent that in spite of its seeming casualness,  it was hard at work. I’ve written before that I believe Browns map everything only move when its to their advantage.

It flew along the road, and then walked into the grass. At first I missed the movement. But Brown had calculated the snake would move out into the open. Ha!  Not this one. Brown reacted but the blanket weed is much too thick. Advantage Snake.

Brown considered a new plan from a small hillock nearby. And that is where there time went. Twenty minutes of more.  Then for no apparent reason the bird moved to a higher roadside sign. And I knew an attack was in play.

YaJustHaddabeThere.
It went down behind the small hillock, and we lost sight, but we lost no time in getting up the road to see if we could get a look.
Yes. There it was mantled, wings spread out. Motionless. At the right time, the head moved and it was all over.
The next few minutes were dealing with the death throes of the snake, and it eventually got a tail twisted over the Falcon’s wings.
After gorging itself it tried to move the snake out into the open, but for some reason, the snake had twisted itself into the grass.  Pretty much exhausted from all the effort, the bird took a break, then flew on to the roadside fence.  And sat.

After a few minutes it began to preen, and we decided to move on.
I collected the vehicle from down the road, and we drove by the fence, and normally a bird would take to the air.  Not this bird, it was either satisfied we meant no harm, exhausted, or just was not going to give up its ground for its meal.
YaJustHaddabeThere.

Which ever, EE got an eye to eye encounter as we went past about arms-length from the bird.

None of these are cropped as they show both the action, the closeness, and the area of the action. For those that are guessing, I think the

markings are a Tiger Snake.

YaJustHaddabeThere.

Enjoy.