Image of a woodpecker in flight with a weasel on its back trends on Twitter
Shared on Twitter by a “birder and wildlife photographer” named Jason Ward, our Picture of the Week shows a woodpecker attempting to fly with a weasel on its back.
Backed up with three secondary images showing the bird and weasel landing and on the ground, this extraordinary set of photographs was taken by someone named Martin Le-May at Hornchurch Country Park in East London.
Two stories to keep beside you
Picture of the Week: Jump!
A rider whose saddle effectively became an ejector seat
Picture of the Week: The king of lunching
Kingfisher snapped catching its lunch in the River Brenta, Italy
Of the incident Le-May told Buzzfeed:
“Just after I switched from my binoculars to my camera the bird flew across us and slightly in our direction; suddenly it was obvious it had a small mammal on its back and this was a struggle for life.
“The woodpecker landed in front of us and I feared the worst. I guess though our presence, maybe 25 meters away, momentarily distracted the weasel”.
“The woodpecker seized the opportunity and flew up and away into some bushes away to our left. Quickly the bird gathered its self respect and flew up into the trees and away from our sight”.
“The woodpecker left with its life. The weasel just disappeared into the long grass, hungry”.
Ward captioned the image he shared with the comment: “Apparently the woodpecker escaped”. Here, indeed, is a bird that certainly kept its pecker up.
Subscribe to our free once daily email newsletter here:[contact-form-7 id=”225″ title=”Contact form 1″]
Readers have their say
1 comment
It is an amazing image and an example of the resilience of nature. Thank you for sharing. Thank you.