A video of a mama bird risking its own life to save its babies from a huge snake has left the internet emotional. The bone-chilling video shows that birds are not only vibrant and colourful creatures, they also exhibit remarkable parental instincts and are fearless and selfless.
Shot at Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada, the video begins with a snake sneaking into the bird’s nest atop a tree even as the mother bird tries to stop it. However, the snake manages to enter the nest even as the mother bird fearlessly tries to confront the snake to protect her precious young chicks.
Despite its efforts, her struggle takes a tragic turn after both the snake and the bird eventually fall to the ground from the tree. Ultimately the snake overpowers the bird but finally releases it after 20 minutes.
The struggling moment of the bird to protect its chicks has left netizens heartbroken.
Sharing the video, Instagram user @natureismetal wrote, “This northern flicker is trying to protect its young from a ravenous bull snake. It should come as no surprise that snakes will seek out and eat newborn hatchlings or their eggs, as they are usually an easy meal to obtain. It might look like this mom is giving the snake hell, but the elapsed time between the snake entering the hole and exiting is considerably longer than the video lets on.”
“While on the ground, I am told by the people who were there that the defensive bird was freed by the snake after about 20 minutes. This is just an assumption, but after gorging itself on northern flicker chicks, the snake had no room for the mother in its belly, so she was released,” she further added.