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Male Pachydiplax longipennis being eaten by Opheodrys aestivus

Like a lot of these predation shots I heard the irregular beat of frantic, chafing wings before locating the scene.

I was taken aback when I first realized what was happening. That quickly wore off though and I was on the ground trying to get as close as possible without disrupting or having any meaningful influence on the situation.

Two great predators. In the end the dasher broke free and clumsily flew off (though he was lucky there were birds looking for an easy catch). I can't say for sure whether or not I played any part in the snake not succeeding in this struggle. If it were venomous I think (though I don't know if venomous snakes spend their venom on dragonflies or if they specialize in more protein-rich options) the dasher would've been done for.

But, the snake maneuvering his jaws to clamp down on the dragonfly gave some room for escape--especially since his jaws were over the thorax and wings, which were already beating trying to escape.

A cool thing I witnessed thanks to radio-telemetry. This was one of our largest rattlers (a male) and he was nearly back at his den at this point in the year. It took him 45-50 min. to get his meal down.

Trifecta!! Competing in tug-o-war with a common garter snake for adult female cascades frog prey. Amazing rare observation!
Published observation in Herpetological Review as a note:
Garwood, J., and N. Garwood. 2020. Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi (Valley Garter Snake) and Thamnophis atratus hydrophilus (Oregon Aquatic Garter Snake). Foraging Competition. Herpetological Review 51:881-881.