On 6/15/2010 7:44 PM, NSURIT@xxxxxxx wrote:
> ...
>
> Does anyone else have snakeboots in their kit or interesting snake stories
> while out photographing?
>
Just the problem - that my most interesting snake meeting was when I was
out NOT photographing. Many years ago, I was off getting away from work,
home, etc. for a couple of days. The point was quiet, introspection,
etc. So when I went on a long walk out toward the point at Point Reyes,
I intentionally didn't have a camera with me.
So of course a snake slithered onto the trail in front of me. I've lived
around here all my life and used to hang around with kids in HS who were
budding herpetologists. I had never seen anything like this. About 2-2.5
ft. long, slimish, rather undistinguished, sort of slightly greenish
muddy color - except for the bright red head!
When it sensed me, rather than slithering away, it took a quite
aggressive posture, forming a figure eight/infinity symbol, tail on the
bottom pointed away from me and head on top, raised toward me. It sure
looked ready to strike.
I "knew" it wasn't venomous, 'cause there aren't such things in Calif.
that don't have triangular, pit viper heads. Still, I was taken aback,
and stayed clear of it's striking range. It stayed long enough for me to
look pretty carefully. It did have some pretty faint stripes down the
sides of its back, so I'm thinking some sort of garter snake. It
eventually tired of my refusal to take its challenge and headed off into
the tall grass.
The visitor center was closed that day, but next time I was there, I
checked and found it was an endangered local species, identified in the
book as a red-headed garter snake. Searching on the web now, it seems to
be more commonly called a San Francisco garter snake.
Boy did I wish I'd brought a camera!! I use that experience as an
internal object lesson to encourage myself to always have a camera with
me. :-)
Snake Boy Moose
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