Acrobatic weasel rides woodpecker on all fours

Yeah ... this weasel is trying to kill and eat the woodpecker, which definitely takes some of the sheen off this amazing photo. We’re all suckers for the “unlikely friends” genre of nature photography, and for a second you’d be tricked into thinking this was one of those. Not so.

Buzzfeed spoke to photographer Martin Le-May, who explained his photo:

”As we walked we heard a distressed squawking and I saw that flash of green. So hurriedly I pointed out to Ann the bird and it settled into the grass behind a couple of small silver birch trees. Both of us trained our binoculars and it occurred that the woodpecker was unnaturally hopping about like it was treading on a hot surface.

Lots of wing flapping showing that gloriously yellow/white colour interspersed with the flash of red head feathers. Just after I switched from my binoculars to my camera 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.

The woodpecker landed in front of us and I feared the worst. I guess though our presence, maybe 25 meters away, momentarily distracted the weasel. The woodpecker seized the opportunity and flew up and away into some bushes away to our left. Quickly the bird gathered its self respect and flew up into the trees and away from our sight.
The woodpecker left with its life. The weasel just disappeared into the long grass, hungry.”

h/t @ry_hudson, photo by Martin Le-May