On Monday, ecologist student at Virginia Tech, Anne Hilborn tweeted out this crazy photo by east London hobby photographer Martin Le-May of a weasel 'hitching a ride' on what appears to be a European green woodpecker:
WHUT?!?! RT @JanFreedman What a photo!! RT @Jayward7: Photo by Martin Le-May. Green Woodpecker attacked by Weasel. pic.twitter.com/D8bvuXCygJ
- Anne Hilborn (@AnneWHilborn) March 2, 2015If you've heard of the term fight or flight, this is a rare case of both. The weasel wasn't really riding the bird, but trying to eat it.
Weasels are notorious nest robbers. And it looks like Le-May got the perfect shot following a confrontation between a weasel and the woodpecker.
According to Buzzfeed, Le-May was walking in the Hornchurch Country Park in east London with his wife, when they heard an animal in distress.
"The bird flew across us and slightly in our direction; suddenly it was obvious it had a small mammal on its back and this was a struggle for life," Le-May told Buzzfeed. That's when he snapped the picture. Eventually, the bird landed back on the ground and started struggling with the weasel.
The weasel became temporarily distracted by Le-May and his wife, which gave the bird the chance to escape.
"The woodpecker left with its life. The weasel just disappeared into the long grass, hungry."