Semi Annual Migration or Snake in the Road

One of the interesting observations that I have made over the years has to do with the snake populations where I live. Whenever I find a snake on our dirt road it the fall it is crawling to the west.Whenever I find a snake in the springtime it is crawling over the road to the east. My conclusion is that they are migrating to the warmer side of the ridge. Our ridge top is one of the dividing lines between the interior weather and the coastal weather. On rare occasions it can be foggy in our front yard and sunny in the back.In fall and through out the winter it is much warmer on average on the coastal side of our ridge than the inland side. Today I was walking along our road and my subconscious mind jolted me into instant alert. Lying motionless on the road ahead of me was a Northern Rubber Boa. It was stretched out facing to the west. It was barely moving as it was rather cool and shady. I picked it up and carried it to a mossy location off of the road and photographed it.Then I moved it to a sunny spot where it could warm up and crawl away. What a beautiful snake. God's love and blessings to all, chris

Things that Go Bump in the Day

I didn't have much time for photography today as I'm working on some landscaping in the yard. Due to the lack of time I decided to photograph some squirrels and Jays out in front of the house. I made a quick set up with some feeders and settled into my rolling photoblind. It didn't take long for the Steller's Jays to appear and find the food. Soon after a Douglas Tree Squirrel braved the heights and began eating black sunflower seeds. Then something weird happened. Some creature crawled onto the axle of the blind underneath the blind floor and began crawling all over it causing it to vibrate and rumble. My mind went through a myriad of creatures and finally settled on snake. I finally calmed down and thought it's under the blind. There aren't any openings in the floor so just keep photographing. About ten minutes later I photographed a Western Gray Squirrel and called it a day.I was really careful getting out of the photoblind. I peaked under the blind a bit but didn't see anything. I had no plans to push my luck and lift up the blind. Maybe later I can do that with a long 2x4.What ever it was it's still out there somewhere! God's precious light and love to all, chris

Here is a link you can cut and paste into your browser to my rolling blind and my semipermanent blinds that I use in my yard. http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2009/12/final-touches-to-photo-blinds.html

Garter Snake Round 2

I have been hoping to catch the Garter Snake in much better lighting. Throughout the day I was checking the pond to see it. Better lighting was not to be. It came out in the middle of the day forcing me to once again lie down on the hot flagstones to capture some images of it.( Note to self put a pad down next time.) I watched it for a long time. It was indeed lying it wait for one of the goldfish. At one point it struck towards one and missed. Then it went back to waiting again. Itt had the patience of Job. Finally it yawned and swam off out of sight behind some rocks in the corner of the pond.

God's precious love to all,

chris

Little Predator

This summer the terrestrial garter snakes have taken to using my small backyard pond as one of their hunting grounds. A few weeks back I encountered one of them leaving the pond with a rather large bulge in it's belly. It was only later that I noticed my biggest goldfish was missing. Today one of the was sunning/hunting off of one of the rocks in the center of the pond. It stayed there long enough for me to photograph it.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris