Do Snakes Eat Birds? Explained by Animalfunkey

A snake is an animal in the animal kingdom that preys on almost every mammal. But do snakes eat birds? By the way, this is an interesting question. The simple answer to the question is yes. Whenever a snake gets a chance, it hunts, regardless of the animal in front. They don’t have a fear of any animal, whatever they are going to prey on.

By the way, it is a strange thing that snakes can eat birds. Well, there are some snakes in the kingdom that eat birds. It is not that snakes will catch and eat a bird while it is in flight. Snakes mostly eat those birds, which mostly spend their time on trees. Usually, snakes eat birds’ eggs, but when they get a chance, they will eat adult birds too. If a snake sees a bird on a tree, it will not delay hunting it. Snakes also eat bird chicks that have fallen from the trees.

There are predators other than snakes that attack birds and destroy their nests. Because of this, some baby birds fall, and if a snake sees any of them on the ground, it will become their food of them. There are also many predators, except snakes that eat birds. 

We will discuss some of the snakes that eat birds.

1- King Snakes

King snakes are non-venomous and are native to the United States, and they can grow up to five feet long. Birds are included on the top list of their diet. They also eat lizards, frogs, rodents, and bird eggs. 

They eat birds without chewing or cracking; they swallow the whole bird. Because they can’t chew, they even use their teeth to get food through the throat in their body.

2- Corn Snakes

These snakes are found in the eastern United States and prefer to live in wooded groves, rocky areas, rocky hillsides, and abandoned buildings. The corn snake is one of the subspecies of rat snakes. They spend their time on trees and also they are great climbers. 

They can grow up to 5-6 feet long. Corn snakes are well known for hunting birds’ nests and for eating. They are also known for about for raiding birds’ nests. Mice are the typical food of these snakes, but they also eat birds and their eggs.

3- Rattlesnakes

Rattlesnakes are venomous and native to the United States and prefer to live in deserts, swamps, and hills. These snakes can grow to almost 8.2 feet long. Rattlesnakes are marked with dark diamonds and hexagons and are different shades of pink, orange, or green.

Diamondback rattlesnakes are one of the specie of rattlesnakes from the viper family. They use different techniques for hunting birds; diamondback rattlesnakes take the edge of squirrels for hunting birds. Rattlesnakes also eat rodents, insects, and reptiles.

4- Black Racers

Black racers and snakes are found throughout the eastern United States. These snakes are diurnal, and due to this, they can be found in agricultural lands, fields, and wetlands. They are dark black. Black racers are carnivores that feed on meat, including small animals and birds.

They are not constrictors nor venomous. These snakes don’t eat food that is big for them and only feed on animals that they can handle or that are not more powerful than them. So they hunt small animals like birds. They can hunt birds easily because they are good tree climbers.

5- Bullsnakes

Bullsnakes are mainly native to the western, southern, and southeastern United States and inhabit grasslands, savannas, and fields. It is subspecies of a gopher snake. They are beige to light brown and have black or brown markings. Bullsnakes are non-venomous.

These snakes are good at tree climbing, so they like to hunt birds. Other diets include mice, rats, bugs, and lizards. 

6- Copperheads

Copperheads are mainly native to the eastern United States and inhabit scrublands, grasslands, shrublands, fields, and forests. They are venomous pit vipers. Adult copperheads can grow up to 26 inches long. They have keeled, scaly skin, and their body color is reddish-brown.

Because they are carnivores, their diet includes mice, rats, insects, amphibians, and chipmunks. Their diet also includes birds and birds’ eggs. Usually, copperheads inject venom into prey that is typically bigger than them and then wait for them to die. But birds don’t bite them because they are small, and the copper snake can quickly put them into their mouth. When the bird dies, they swallow it.

7- Fox Snakes

Fox snakes live in Great Lake Region and prefer grasslands, farmlands, and woodlands. They kill their prey by strangulation or wrapping because they are non-venomous. Fox snakes have tan-brown color on the sides and are dusky to the top of the body, and adults are reddish-brown and have scattered markings. 

These snakes prey on small mammals, rodents, frogs, birds, and bird eggs. 

8- Garter Snakes

These snakes are found throughout Southeast and North America, and their habitats include woodlands, meadows, hillsides, marshes, water areas, and grasslands. They are harmless snakes and have a strong sense of smell and vision.

Garter snakes mainly prey on weak or small animals so that they can easily swallow them. Their diet includes amphibians, earthworms, snails, crayfish, slugs, small fishes, and leeches. They can also eat birds, their eggs, and a newborn baby bird.

9- Pine Snakes

Pine snakes are native to South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and the Coastal Plain of North Carolina. They inhabit sandy areas, pine flatwood, prairies, cultivated fields, and rocky deserts. Heavy-bodied snakes weighing 4 to 8 pounds can grow to 50-70 inches. Pine snakes are white, light gray, and yellow.

They are non-venomous snakes and they kill their prey by wrapping them. Pine snakes are very good at climbing trees and can easily prey on birds as carnivores, so their everyday diet includes lizards, rats, squirrels, moles, rabbits, and mice.

10- Coachwhips

Coachwhips are found in North America, the giant snakes in North America, growing up to 8 feet long. They have slender like body and prominent eyes with yellow irises. Adults coachwhips have dark brown or black head and neck. 

They are non-venomous snakes, so they catch their prey with their strong jaws having inward-slanting small teeth. When they grab the prey, they don’t wait to die. Instead, they are eaten alive. Their diet includes insects, amphibians, lizards, snakes, and rodents. Besides these things, birds and their eggs are included in their primary diet.

11- Twig Snakes

They are native to African forests. Due to having long bodies, they are also known as vine snakes. These snakes are greyish-brown with dim light and have black markings. Twig snakes are so deadly, having hemotoxin venom that can not only cause blood clotting but can also cause uncontrolled bleeding. Their bites have caused death in the past, but they are rare because they can’t reach the skin, even if they can bite you, only on the feet.

These snakes hide in trees, and when found prey like birds, they kill them and swallow them. Their diet includes frogs, lizards, and birds. 

Animals That Live in Forests

12- Brown Tree Snakes

They are also known as brown cat snakes. Brown tree snakes are found in Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Australia. They have large heads and eyes and are slender-like a body that can grow 2 meters in length. 

Brown tree snakes are nocturnal and have two rear fangs at the back of their mouth, so it becomes difficult for them to inject venom into humans. Because they are tree snakes, so they mostly hunt birds. Other diet includes bats, rats, shrews, small mammals, bird eggs, and juveniles on lizards.

Animals That Live on Trees?

FAQs

Conclusion

Snakes are different from all other animals in the wild. They have many individual techniques to catch their prey. It depends upon the species and what they like more. Some snakes are experts in catching birds which we have also discussed above. So we have discussed all those snakes that eat birds and how they see them with their great expertise.

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