Wildlife Photography with marysejansenart
Elegant snake with keen eyes, lightning speed and venom to kill
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A Yellow-faced Whip Snake on the hunt!
I know I haven’t been very active as a photographer in the past few months as I’ve been so busy launching my coaching business ‘Touched by Nature’ – but something told me to bring my camera on my walk today. Little did I know that I was going to have a very special encounter with a Yellow-faced Whip Snake!
A quick movement and a soft rustle on the side of the path in the undergrowth grabs my attention. I just see the tail of a slender snake disappear. I stop in my tracks. My eyes scanning the vegetation for a sign of movement. Usually without success as snakes are generally quite shy and hide from people if they can. But today I don’t have to wait long, this snake is very active. It is on the hunt!
Venomous snake with distinct facial markings
The Yellow-faced Whip Snake is a slender snake, up to 1 metre in length. It has a pale brown to grey colour on top, cream to greenish on the belly. It is adorned with flushes of a red tinge, in this case mostly on the back, sometimes more near the head.
It has large eyes surrounded by a pale yellow rim and a dark ‘comma’-shaped streak runs from the eye to the mouth. Clearly visible is also the dark line that runs across the snout from nostril to nostril. It is these facial markings that can help you distinguish it from the Eastern Brown Snake, which is much more dangerous to people!
The Yellow-faced Whip Snake is not something to play with either though, it is a venomous snake and can potentially be dangerous to people, especially children. Some bites are just painful and induce local swelling, while others can have more severe consequences. And these snakes are fast! So I keep my distance…
Read my post about the Red-bellied Black Snake for more information about how to stay safe around snakes.
Swift hunter favours small lizards on the menu
It has an interesting pattern of movement, quickly poking its head around in the vegetation to then suddenly freeze for a while. And then, without warning, it takes off again at high speed. This behaviour repeats for a while until it finally appears with a lizard in its mouth! Small lizards belong to its favourite foods list, as do frogs and lizard eggs.
It doesn’t take long for the lizard to disappear in the snake as snakes swallow their prey whole. It is quite a sight to witness! Generally snakes may take 4-5 days to digest their meal, a time during which they rest. But one lizard clearly does not make enough of a meal to sustain this one, so the hunt continues.
Yellow-faced Whip Snakes are common but this experience was unique!
I lose sight of the animal during the next hunt but I am super excited for what I have witnessed today – this was quite unique! Yellow-faced Whip Snakes are known to be difficult to observe closely as they are very alert and tend to take off quickly when they are disturbed. So this was a real treat and I am so glad to be able to share the footage with you so that you can also observe the Whip Snake hunt, safely on your screen!
Yellow-faced Whip Snakes are quite common, and I have seen one on several occasions. Those times they have always been quick to disappear on me indeed. They are mostly spread across eastern Australia, but can be seen in most of Australia except Tasmania. They can be found in a wide range of habitats. Today I spotted one in Eucalyptus forest, but I have previously also seen Whip Snakes on farmland, at the coast and even in the rainforest!
The video below shows the footage of the Yellow-faced Whip Snake on the hunt! Enjoy:
If you are interested in purchasing ‘Yellow-faced Whip’ or would like to see what the image looks like on the various products, please head to my shop. For ‘Yellow-faced Whip Snake Alert’, click shop here.