The catbirds found the snake before I did: they were busily squawking in the nearby shrubbery. The heavy rain we have had for the last week probably brought the snake out into the open.
Friday, September 9, 2011
baby rat snake season
The catbirds found the snake before I did: they were busily squawking in the nearby shrubbery. The heavy rain we have had for the last week probably brought the snake out into the open.
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3 comments:
Very cool. I've never understood the polychromism? of snakes.
We have been in the same house for almost 30 years and weather like this used to bring the occasional hognosed snake into the (dry) basement, but it's been years. I kind of miss them!
I can’t say that I’ve thought much about the color patterns in snakes, Chris, but it must have some important adaptive significance because color patterns such as the one seen in the young black rat snake are probably the commonest pattern seen in snakes overall. Patterns like this occur in boids and pythonids (both rather primitive groups) and in viperids (highly derived) and lots of groups in between.
It’s been years since I’ve seen a hognose snake in the garden. But then it’s been years since we’ve had a successful spawning of the local toads. The toads (or at least the male toads) show up yearly, but for the last several years there have been no tadpoles.
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