黄鼠狼飞骑啄木鸟: 画面温馨真相残酷

It’s one way for a weasel to get around: hitching a lift on the back of a woodpecker.

照片上看，黄鼠狼趴在啄木鸟的背上搭了个顺风车，两只一起飞。

In fact, the image captures the bird’s fight for life after the predatory weasel jumped onto its back and attacked it.

而实际上，这张照片拍下的却是啄木鸟在遭黄鼠狼从背后袭击时逃生的画面。

The extraordinary picture was taken by Martin Le-May, an amateur photographer who was out walking with his wife in Hornchurch Country Park, Essex.

这张不可思议的照片是由业余摄影师马丁·乐梅偶然拍下的，当时他和妻子正在英国艾塞克斯的霍恩彻奇国家公园里散步。

“As we walked we heard a distressed squawking and I saw the flash of green,” said Mr Le-May, 52. “We trained our binoculars and it occurred that the woodpecker was unnaturally hopping about like it was treading on a hot surface.

“散步时我们突然听到一个痛苦的鸟叫声，接着看到一团绿色一闪而过。”52岁的马丁说，“我们用望远镜一看，发现一只啄木鸟在不寻常地跳来跳去，就像踩到灼热的地面上一样。”

“The bird was about 50m away from us and took off just as I lifted the camera up. Originally, I thought I was just taking a picture of a green woodpecker flying. Then I realised it had something on its back.

“啄木鸟与我们的距离大概有50米，我举起相机时它刚好飞走。一开始我只以为自己拍下了啄木鸟飞起来的照片。后来我发现啄木鸟的背上有个东西。”

“Suddenly it was obvious it had a small mammal on its back and this was a struggle for life.”

“我突然发现那是一只小的黄鼠狼，原来这是一场生命的挣扎。”

The bird was around two metres off the ground when Mr Le-May caught it on camera. Happily, it managed to shake off the weasel and fly up into the trees.

啄木鸟被马丁拍下来的时候距离地面有两米左右。幸运的是，最后它成功摆脱了那只小黄鼠狼，飞到树丛中。

The picture became a sensation when it was circulated on social media, with some Twitter users suggesting it could not be real.

这张照片被上传至网络后引起轰动，很多网友认为照片不是真的。

But Matt Binstead, head keeper at the British Wildlife Centre, said: "You can tell it’s a real photograph.

但是英国野生动物中心的首席饲养员马特·宾斯戴德说：“可以判断，这张照片是真实的。”

"A female weasel is not much bigger than a packet of Polos but they are quite ferocious little predators and will prey on things much bigger than themselves – their normal diet is mice and small mammals but they can go for small rabbits.

“母黄鼠狼的体型确实不大，和一袋马球的大小差不多，但是它们却是非常凶猛的食肉动物，能够捕食体型比它们大的动物。黄鼠狼常吃的有老鼠和一些小的哺乳动物，有时也能捕到小兔子。”

"It's quite unusual for them to go for a bird but green woodpeckers forage on the ground. I imagine the weasel gave it a go, jumped on its back and then the woodpecker took off."

“黄鼠狼不常捕食鸟类，但在地面觅食的绿色啄木鸟除外。我猜想当时应该是这只黄鼠狼想吃掉啄木鸟，于是跳到它的背上，然后啄木鸟立刻飞了起来。”