"Bird Defends Young Chickens" 🐦🐍

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.