June 15, 2004
"Coua vs. Boa"
by Haley Houghton

Madagascar is a bird watcher’s dream. We see countless bird species while checking fossa traps and surveying fragments for lemurs, so we weren’t surprised when we came across a Red-Capped Coua in the middle of the trail.

We were surprised, however, by its odd vocalizations. It was frantically screeching. We stopped briefly to take of a picture but thought nothing of it and continued down the trail.

Only a few steps later I saw the cause of the coua’s distress: a five-foot long Madagascar Ground Boa, Madagascar’s largest snake, camouflaged in some leaf litter in the center of the trail. It was calmly soaking up the sun, a large bulge visible in its stomach—probably the coua’s mate. Couas are medium-sized ground dwelling birds that are preyed upon by numerous species including fossa.

We frequently find piles of coua feathers in the trail—all that’s left of the easy target after a fossa or a civet gets hold of one. We left the two opponents as they were when we found them: the snake digesting its meal and the coua screeching hysterically. The scene probably went on like this until the snake sufficiently digested its meal and retreated into the shade of the forest leaving the widowed coua alone, pair bonded no more.