[MAIPC] rattlesnake and hawk

[Richard Gardner]

I know this is a little off topic.  However, I was fortunate enough yesterday while doing fieldwork on invasive plants to photograph a rattlesnake and the hawk that tried to have it for lunch.  My best guess is that the rattlesnake was picked up by the hawk at the Auburn Overlook along the Appalachian Trail in Tilden Township, Berks County, PA.  The snake was then able to bite it.  Both fell from the sky when the venom took effect with the rattlesnake surviving and the hawk in very bad shape.  The last photo was taken about an hour after the others on my return to the Jeep at the end of the walk.
 
It was also the first live rattlesnake I have seen in all my thousands of miles on trails across several states.
The photos are posted at: 
https://www.facebook.com/tom.gardner.737/media_set?set=a.10201997839887580.1073741845.1233178402&type=1

Richard T. Gardner
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