| Pages:
1
2 |
Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3326
Registered: 12-13-2002
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow
|
|
In My Driveway Tonight
Beautiful little animal. After I harassed and blinded him for awhile I used a broom handle to push him off in the bushes. He was about 18" long.
|
|
|
vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
|
|
Isn't 'e GOOOOOOOOORgeous. A little hot on the quiet end, but absolutely beautiful. Good on ya for lettin' it live. I haven't had to kill one for
years. That makes me happy.
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
|
|
|
Mexray
Super Nomad
Posts: 1016
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: California Delta
Member Is Offline
Mood: Baja Time
|
|
OK, Ken, you're creepin' me out!
...I don't know if I'd be to anxious to do any weeding around your casa! Of course, having your 'new best friend' close by might help to keep the
Fuller Brush man away!
Now that you're messing around with dangerous critters, I wouldn't be planning to go 'swimming with giant Stingrays' any time soon!
According to my clock...anytime is \'BAJA TIME\' & as Jimmy Buffett says,
\"It doesn\'t use numbers or moving hands It always just says now...\"
|
|
|
Packoderm
Super Nomad
Posts: 2116
Registered: 11-7-2002
Member Is Offline
|
|
I love the photography on that one.
|
|
|
BajaTrooper
Junior Nomad
Posts: 57
Registered: 3-5-2007
Location: somewhere cold and wet
Member Is Offline
|
|
Ken, Thanks for sharing those beautiful shots!
|
|
|
Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
Member Is Offline
|
|
Ken, don't know where you live but the Western Diamondback (coontail) is very temperature tolerant -- first one out of the ground in the spring, last
one to go under in the winter. That's just my personal observation -- maybe there are lots of reasons; prey, specialization, etc. but I've seen them
when I was rabbit hunting while I was wearing lots of layers to keep warm. I like snakes so If I encounter them on a paved road, sunning, I usually
stop, pick them up, move them away from harm. They need the sun so they rarely thank me.
|
|
|
Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
Member Is Offline
|
|
What a beautiful snake that is! I've never seen one except in a vivarium, so this is a special treat for me. Thanks for harassing it with your
camera strobe in order that we all might have a good look.
Nena
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
|
|
|
Cardon
Nomad
Posts: 241
Registered: 4-23-2004
Location: Salt Lake City
Member Is Offline
|
|
Great shots of the snake. We had one visit our woodcarving show here in Salt Lake City two weeks ago-it won the blue ribbon.
|
|
|
Iflyfish
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3747
Registered: 10-17-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
Wow! Coool
^^^^^^^^:>
Iflyfishssssssssss
|
|
|
Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3326
Registered: 12-13-2002
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Osprey
Ken, don't know where you live but the Western Diamondback (coontail) is very temperature tolerant -- first one out of the ground in the spring, last
one to go under in the winter. That's just my personal observation -- maybe there are lots of reasons; prey, specialization, etc. but I've seen them
when I was rabbit hunting while I was wearing lots of layers to keep warm. I like snakes so If I encounter them on a paved road, sunning, I usually
stop, pick them up, move them away from harm. They need the sun so they rarely thank me. |
Osprey I live in LA, southwest corner of the San Fernando Valley. I am not much on snake id, is that what he is, a western diamondback? I googled a
few of them and the pattern looks different, the google diamonds are much more distinct than the one that was warming on my driveway. But maybe this
is what they look like when they are young.
|
|
|
bajaandy
Senior Nomad
Posts: 769
Registered: 2-7-2004
Location: North County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Adventurous
|
|
Ken,
That fourth photo, close-up of the head, is just awesome! They're all awesome!
Where I live (North County, San Diego), we get a lot of the Red Diamondbacks. I wouldn't know the difference between the Western and the Red, but
your photos are so clear and precise that I'm sure someone with better identification skills will know.
Interestingly, my father-in-law (a retired herpetologist) suggests killing any rattlesnakes that come anywhere near your home. His contention is that
they are not endangered, breed readily, and are more of a pest than being worth any benefit (like eating mice, rats, etc.), and are dangerous to try
to catch and "move" to a new area. With that theory in mind, I make no bones about dispatching any found right around the house. On the other hand,
if I find them out on the dirt roads around my house or when on hikes, I leave them alone. I figure if they're that far away from the house, they're
no danger to me, my family or my animals.
subvert the dominant paradigm
"If you travel with a man, you must either fall out with him or make him your good friend."
JBL Noel
|
|
|
Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
Member Is Offline
|
|
Ken - I'm pretty sure your snake is a Sidewinder. Three identifiers... the 'horns' over the eyes, the first rattle on its tail is a different color
than the other rattles, and the shape of the pattern on its back. Question: When it traveled, did it literally travel sideways?
Nena
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
|
|
|
Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3326
Registered: 12-13-2002
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow
|
|
Nena
Come to think of it, he did move sideways. He pretty much stayed in place when he was being photographed (something about being blind). When he did
move he was being gently urged by a broom handle (which he was diligently attacking) but the movement did seem like a sidewinder. Thanks, ++Ken++
|
|
|
Bajalero
Nomad
Posts: 316
Registered: 11-24-2003
Location: todos santos/ rcho san diego
Member Is Offline
|
|
Nice pixs of southern pacific ratllesnake Ken. Caught two in my yard this week. One about 12" and the second (under my door mat) about 18" .
The red ones found in socal are weastern red diamond backs.
lero
|
|
|
Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3326
Registered: 12-13-2002
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow
|
|
Bajalero I think you nailed him, so to speak. He is a dead ringer for the "Los Angeles County Juvenile" on this page:
http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/c.o.helleri.html
|
|
|
Hook
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9010
Registered: 3-13-2004
Location: Sonora
Member Is Offline
Mood: Inquisitive
|
|
Looks like a Pacific to me, too. Much darker, more pronounced markings than the Western Diamondback.
Let 'em live.............but maybe move em a little farther away from the abode. 
|
|
|
Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
|
|
I agree-----move them out of the danger (to people and pets) zone, but be really careful as they bruize really easily--------in other words try and be
"gentle".
(this from a guy that has been "hit" 3 times by rattlers, all in deep grass)
|
|
|
Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
|
|
As usual, fantastic photography from Ken Bondy! What's difficult for me is to determine the size of this snake. When I first looked at the photos I
thought this was a much bigger snake. But Ken's comments protray this as a baby rattler. I'm still amazed how you get them to look at you in your
photos of their eyes Ken (see shot #3). Just like your underwater photography. You capture great emotions of these creatures. It's almost as they
want to communicate with you in some way.
Bob H
[Edited on 3-31-2007 by Bob H]
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Bob H
As usual, fantastic photography from Ken Bondy! What's difficult for me is to determine the size of this snake. When I first looked at the photos I
thought this was a much bigger snake. But Ken's comments protray this as a baby rattler. I'm still amazed how you get them to look at you in your
photos of their eyes Ken (see shot #3). Just like your underwater photography. You capture great emotions of these creatures. It's almost as they
want to communicate with you in some way.
Bob H
[Edited on 3-31-2007 by Bob H] |
That is really well said Bob... I couldn't agree more that Ken Bondy is a world class nature photographer!
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
"World class"... yes!
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
2 |
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
