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NO, YOUR EYES aren’t deceiving you – that is a weasel on the back of a woodpecker.
The photo was snapped by Martin Le-May, who told Business Insider that he was walking in Hornchurch Country Park in London with his wife when they both heard what sounded like an animal in distress.
“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,” Le-May said by e-mail.
Le-May snapped the picture and watched as the bird landed back on the ground and started struggling with the weasel.
Thankfully, the weasel became distracted by Le-May and his wife, so the bird was able to escape. Just another day in the animal kingdom…
- Additional reporting Business Insider
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That’s the sort of thing that gives weasels a bad name!
Photoshop.
No, this is Photoshop:
https://twitter.com/MoscowTimes/status/572755621549883394/photo/1
Weasling out of things is what seperates us from the animals, except the weasel…..
thanks for the laugh mike!!
All I see is a white and gold dress.
Alan you sound like a little weasel!
Brilliant:D
Wildlife photo of the year!
Glad someone is getting the ride!!!
The struggle was probably over the airfare
The struggle is real.
Quote by photographer : “As we walked we heard a distressed squawking and I saw that flash of green. So hurriedly I pointed out to Ann the bird and it settled into the grass behind a couple of small silver birch trees. Both of us trained our binoculars and it occurred that the woodpecker was unnaturally hopping about like it was treading on a hot surface.
Lots of wing flapping showing that gloriously yellow/white colour interspersed with the flash of red head feathers. 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.”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/tasneemnashrulla/the-tale-of-the-weasel-and-woodpecker
Just going to complain about the water charges. There’s bound to be some connection.
Mustalids, animals such as stoats, mink, ferrets, weasels etc, can kill by attacking the prey animal, or in this case bird, by going for the throat and sucking the blood from their body. It appears thats what this weasel was attempting to do.
Yup, this behaviour inspired Bram Stoker when he wrote Dracula
There was a photo doing the rounds last year of a large otter attacking an alligator in a similar fashion
Yes I think I remember it dave, the otter had his hands wrapped tightly around the alligators neck and the alligator only managed to get free when he flew in between two buildings which were very close together resulting in the otter getting knocked off.
Perfect framing, perfect dept of field, perfect shutter speed, perfect exposure. And off the scale with subject matter. I smell a weasel
Fantastic photo.
The baby weasel was trying to kill the woodpecker.
The woodpecker took to floght to try n shake ot off. It landed not far from the photographer, the weasel got distracted by the photographer and his wife, giving the woodpecker a chance to fly away safely.
That’s some nice paraphrasing right there.
Gone are the days when we would have taken this at face value, but not anymore ! Pity? it looks good.
So now I know what a wea-pecker looks like, often wondered
That’s the Wright kind of weasel for flight.
Getting ready for Cheltenham! Come on the weasel !!!
Fake
You would know.
It’s like enda kenny on the working poor
Hair rage.
AIR RAGE AIR RAGE AIR RAGE
that green woodpecker is getting the riding of a life time
Ryanair charging for excess hair.
If that is a weasel, does that not make the woodpecker the size of a small dog ?
???
Trying to weasel out of that one…
Hope that weasels wearing a Johnny .
It looks like he is going bareback
The proportions do your head in…
My compilation, worth a watch lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDwrdxYHJ1U
Proof of evolution!!!!!!!!
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