Water snakes feeding on fish

The creek is drying up, and there were still several fingerlings in the remaining pools after a fish rescue was done. In the past, I've rescued those left behind, but I'm not able any longer. I knew the fish would become meals for other critters as the water diminished. Today I watched as 5-6 water snakes worked one small pool. They were persistant and successful, but always left the water before they began feeding.

In this image there are two snakes, each holding the same fish in their mouth.

Preparing to feed.

Nice captures Tiger!...those may be Garter Snake's but not for sure on that.

This one has a sculpin, which was eaten tail first. The snake was fairly uncomfortable after feeding, and one could see where the sculpins fin was creating the discomfort.

You can see when the sculpins fin was causing the discomfort.

This snake has a fingerling coho. I thought it odd that they swallow tail first.

This fingerling had just escaped from one of the snakes. While I was there, the snakes caught and ate nine fish. Later when I checked, the snakes had gone, and one fish remained in the pool.

I'd never seen anything like this feeding before, and while I'd have prefered the fish had survived to spawn, the event was fascinating.

Great shots of this tiger!

Nice capture of the feeding action , Tiger.

Very interesting ....thanks for sharing and great job with the photos!

Fascinating, I have never seen anything like that before and Thank You for sharing it. ...I thought that they ate underwater....

I have seen garter snakes eat small fish occasionally around here. I have also seen them stalking tadpoles in small pools. I picked up a garter snake one day to show my coworker the interesting markings - not realizing that she was terrified of snakes. Oops.

I can't even say the word "snake" around my mom. lol