The Wild Boa Constrictor.

[Gio]

I was looking over some of my favorite footage of boas in the wild and I remembered this video.

It is not mine, but I will link it here as it is available on You Tube.

It is a perfect example of the hunting/ambush strategies used by boa constrictors in the wild. Note the habitat. Clearly, are the signs of human encroachment, yet the snake recognizes the prey options in the area and has adapted to live in areas populated by humans. This is common with many snakes.

If you listen to the narration, you'll hear that the snake was in the area for several days then possibly relocated or hid for a time and came back shortly after. This appears to be in the day time which indicates these snakes are not only nocturnal, but sometimes diurnal when there is a need. Note the body size and shape of this snake. It is in excellent condition IMO. This is a Central American boa and it seems to have no problem taking birds. I often provide quail for my boa which is a nice alternative to rodents.

Terrestrial and arboreal, or termed "semi arboreal" boas will utilize almost all options to get a meal. This one has found something in between.

Say what you want about morphs, fancy photography and staged background scenes, they certainly are fun to look at, however this RAW, wild, footage is truly what these snakes are about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRAqBgdic80

There are other videos like this, I just ran into this one again today and wanted others to see it.

[redshepherd]

Neat video!

And it's funny to me how even the most experienced of wild boa constrictors suffer the same noob problem of not finding the head and sniffing the butt... 😂

[Reinz]

One thing to notice is the Boa did not attack head on. It attacked from about a 90 degree angle. I have experienced this with my big Boa, Punch. I can only recall my BP and Carpets attacking head on.

[eliotl]

Hey Gio, I shot/edited/narrated this video. Glad to see it posted! To answer your question (posted in another forum) about this being in somebody's "front yard," this was taken in the admin area of a very large national park in Costa Rica. (Santa Rosa/ACG.) It was right in front of the tiny house (a former guard house) of Dan Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs, two chief American scientists at the park. So, not exactly a residential area, but still human-impacted. (One important impact is that Dan and Winnie put water in front of their house for birds and agouti; and this was a month into a bone dry wet season.)

How I GOT the footage was a ton of luck. I walked by the boa on my way to do work in the caterpillar rearing barn behind Dan and Winnie's house. I was working as Dan's assistant at the time, and he encouraged me to take photos of the animals around me, as a way to communicate the biology I was seeing. So I always had my camera on my hip. I took some photos of the boa sitting there, then went over and checked on my pupas in jars, to see if anything had eclosed. Later, walking by the boa again, I saw two agouti on the ground near the boa, and I wondered whether they would exhibit this particular anti-predator foot-drumming behavior Winnie had described. So I got out my camera and started videoing. Then I noticed a dove surprisingly near to the boa, and so I started recording it (0:28). I zoomed in and then ONE SECOND later a dove flew up to the log and the boa caught it. My tripod was a hundred feet away, so I just kept filming handheld for ten or fifteen minutes until my memory card filled up. Then I ran and got my tripod and switched memory cards and filmed the last bit more stably.

I'm really not a snake expert, I just happened to get this footage. Had help from Dan and Winnie and Harry Greene in sorting out what I was seeing. Great reason to always carry your camera when you're in the wild!

[Reinz]

Thank you for the backgtound information on the video!

And welcome to the forum.

[Gio]

Hey Gio, I shot/edited/narrated this video. Glad to see it posted! To answer your question (posted in another forum) about this being in somebody's "front yard," this was taken in the admin area of a very large national park in Costa Rica. (Santa Rosa/ACG.) It was right in front of the tiny house (a former guard house) of Dan Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs, two chief American scientists at the park. So, not exactly a residential area, but still human-impacted. (One important impact is that Dan and Winnie put water in front of their house for birds and agouti; and this was a month into a bone dry wet season.)

How I GOT the footage was a ton of luck. I walked by the boa on my way to do work in the caterpillar rearing barn behind Dan and Winnie's house. I was working as Dan's assistant at the time, and he encouraged me to take photos of the animals around me, as a way to communicate the biology I was seeing. So I always had my camera on my hip. I took some photos of the boa sitting there, then went over and checked on my pupas in jars, to see if anything had eclosed. Later, walking by the boa again, I saw two agouti on the ground near the boa, and I wondered whether they would exhibit this particular anti-predator foot-drumming behavior Winnie had described. So I got out my camera and started videoing. Then I noticed a dove surprisingly near to the boa, and so I started recording it (0:28). I zoomed in and then ONE SECOND later a dove flew up to the log and the boa caught it. My tripod was a hundred feet away, so I just kept filming handheld for ten or fifteen minutes until my memory card filled up. Then I ran and got my tripod and switched memory cards and filmed the last bit more stably.

I'm really not a snake expert, I just happened to get this footage. Had help from Dan and Winnie and Harry Greene in sorting out what I was seeing. Great reason to always carry your camera when you're in the wild!

Great back story and video!

You did a fine job of filming and really captured the essence of a wild boa constrictor.

We should all be so lucky to see something like this.
Well done!