Python devours a bird while hanging from a tree metres away from a family home

The incredible moment a python hanging from a tree devoured a dove has been caught on camera. 

The snake can be seen choking the bird in footage that was uploaded to Facebook on January 31. 

Joanne McCulkin, who filmed the video said the snake began to swallow its victim just metres away from her home in Cooloola Cove, Queensland. 

‘We noticed the commotion in the bush just at the end of our front deck, and realised that the python was strangling a dove in order to then eat it,’ Mrs McCulkin told Storyful.

Mrs Joanne McCulkin heard a commotion in her backyard and discovered the python devouring the bird in a tree just metres away from her home

According to Mrs McCulkin the snake took almost an hour to finish the dove and said she was pleased the snake was ‘so busy trying to eat the dove that he wasn’t too bothered by me.’

Mrs McCulkin and her husband were able to measure the snake to be 2.2-2.3 metres long, and said they have seen the python before, but ‘seeing his meal time was amazing. 

‘My husband and I used to be outback tour guides and love wildlife, so this sort of thing fascinates us, though we have certainly never seen anything like this happen before in real life,’ she said.

The 2.2 metre snake constricts its prey and widens its jaws to devour the feathered animal

Facebook users were fascinated by the footage of the pythons lunchtime. 

‘I sure am glad I don’t have to eat sh*t covered in fur and feathers’, one comment read, while another commented on the birds fluffy plumage. 

‘That must get caught in the ole fangs’, they said. 

Mrs McCulkin jokingly replied to this comment, ‘I’m sure he had a real tickle in his throat.’

The bite of a carpet python is not poisonous to humans but they are known to frequently prey on possums, birds, rodents and sometimes family pets. 

Carpet pythons climb trees to be closer to the sun while they sleep, with many found hiding in roofs, pergolas and sheds during wet weather.