Saturday, March 14… Rattlesnake (Abigail Lapell)

 

   I was outside this morning by 6:30 and hummers were already on the feeders. They were up and moving before I was! I saw no sparrows on the ground at this time, but at 6:31 a.m., there was one on the suet cake. Temperature was a balmy 59^o , but it still felt a bit cool after climbing out of a warm bed. Sunrise clocked in at 6:37 today, so based on my observations the birds were a smidge ahead of their usual morning schedule.

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   The hummingbirds were slow in coming to the yard this year. Now, there are routinely 6 or 7 flitting around, being sassy with each other. I’m out of the way of their antics if I’m sitting alongside the camper; usually in the mornings, I sit at the picnic table. Due to the number of hummers flying around nilly willy this morning, twice I thought I was going to get hit. But both times, the bird expertly swerved around me.  No flailing of arms necessary on my part.

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   Took an e-bike ride down to the end of Picacho Hwy this morning. Left at about 9:15, returned about 11:15. Only purpose was to get some exercise; although Kim did have the drone onboard, just in case an opportunity arose. I reset my trip meter before I left the yard; Kim reset his over by the mailboxes, which meant mine was already at .2 miles when his trip meter was set.  When we finished, mine was reading 17.8 miles and Kim’s was reading 18.1 miles.  So, mine was ahead of his to start and his finished ahead of mine…and we both rode the same route. Something’s not right about that, but roundtrip was somewhere in the 18-mile range.

   Both of us have been trying to rely on our own pedal power instead of using Pedal Assist too often, so we were able to limit battery usage on several of our longer bike rides. However, all good things must come to an end…the batteries were both in the range where getting charged before another big ride was prudent. Because they were going on the charging when we got back to camp, there was more use of the throttle on the return trip. Felt wrong…bicycles use pedal power and motorcycles use throttles.

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   On our ride today, we rode past a dead rattlesnake in the road; Kim always has to turn around to check the snake. This one had a mark on its underbelly and was laying on its back but otherwise there was no sign of injury. In fact, when Kim made a move to pick it up, I asked if he was sure it was dead because it wasn’t smashed. He assured me it was dead. Indeed, it was a dead diamondback rattler maybe a little over 2 feet long. We’ve seen several dead rattlesnakes over the years, but the rattle was always flattened. This snake had a pristine rattle and in a moment of not being myself, I asked Kim if he could cut the rattle off. He obliged and held it out to me. Having suddenly come back to my senses, I asked, “You mean, it has to be put it my saddlebag?”  Wrapped it in a napkin and dropped it in my bike bag. I know there are grandkids who will find it very interesting.

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   As we were riding along, Kim wondered if the number of segments on a rattle indicates the age of the snake. I looked it up when we got back to camp.  The short answer is: No, it doesn’t.

   The slightly longer answer is: No, because rattle segments are added when a snake sheds its skin, which happens multiple times a year for younger snakes and less often for older snakes. And segments can break off due to wear and tear because after all, a snake crawls on its belly.  

   And then there’s a really long answer which involves technical terms and graphic explanations and

pictures about the shedding process. While it was interesting reading, it was so much more information than Kim’s question required. Basically, while you cannot tell the exact age, a tapered, unbroken rattle indicates a younger snake, while a blunt, thick rattle usually indicates a mature, older snake. The rattle we found had seven segments, all in good shape with a slight taper. So, I’m guessing it was a younger snake, but younger than what, I don’t know.

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                       In addition to the birds, we’ve done a fair amount of lizard watching in the past. They’re a common visitor to the tree…maybe there’s tasty bugs in the bark. But this year, we haven’t seen any, except the Horned Lizard the first night, and the weather has been plenty warm, just the way they like it. Sometimes, when I’d come in from sitting outside, Kim would ask if there had been any lizards yet. I had nothing to report. However, this afternoon, I saw movement on the tree and, lo and behold! There was a lizard, about three inches from vent to snout. He wasn’t in any hurry, so I was able to get a picture before he made it to the other side of the tree.

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   By starting earlier on our bike ride, we beat the hottest part of the day. However, this afternoon, there was no relief from the heat. It was 90^o and no moving air. Turned the air on in the camper and then went to the movies so the camper could cool down while we were gone.  Saw ‘Solo Mio’ and both of us enjoyed it. Good plot, interesting characters and predictable outcome. Plenty of humor, no profanity, a little implausible at times perhaps, but still a good movie.

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   A Gila woodpecker found the broken-up pieces of the seed ring on the ground this afternoon. Spent a lot of time hammering away at it. I don’t know why it didn’t pay attention to it when it was hanging from the tree, though. The Gila has been more interested in the hummingbird feeders than the seed ring. Then in the early evening, Peter Cottontail was in the yard enjoying it also.  So, I expect that it won’t be laying around the yard much longer.

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   Sky cleared off, so Kim was able to set the scope to take more images of the Dolphin Head Nebula.