Rattlesnake Time

While turkey hunting, I came upon a large rattlesnake and got a pretty good video of him rattling away. Check it out.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUADIEIKykg

Didn’t find the turkey.

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Juvenile Snake

Came upon a snake while hiking last week. One of my experts believes it’s a California yellow-bellied racer.

What do you think? It was less than a foot long and had a turquoise cast to it. In the cool morning air it was inactive.

This snake was quite small and stayed still in the dusty trail.

Big eyes.

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Spring is Here and Reptiles are Out

This alligator lizard was not full grown. He hid in the grass for a while before finally giving me an open shot.

Spent Saturday looking for reptiles and I found quite a few. Here are some of my photos.

Western fence lizards were out sunning themselves on the many rock piles.

Here’s a classic fence lizard.

A few snakes were circulating. I found one whipsnake.

This whip snake didn’t want to leave and I took several photos.

The Alameda whipsnake is listed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened. http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/profile/speciesProfile.action?spcode=C04A

I finally came upon a large rattle snake.

This guy makes a living eating wood rats.

Here he is again.

Plenty of rattles on this guy. No wood rat too big or too small for him.

The next one is not a reptile, but he posed so nice I couldn’t resist.

He stood in the middle of the road and strutted his stuff, but the hens must have been nesting.

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April Weekend at the Ranch

 

It was a good weekend to be in the hills. Here are a few of the photos I was able to take while traveling around the ranch. (Click to enlarge.)

 

Here's the typical view of a ranch road coyote.

Surprise. It’s unusual for ranch road coyotes to pose for a broadside photo.

Another rarity, only in spring will you see two great blues together like this.

Nice cape on this great blue heron.

Rob pointed out some baby blue eyes – with bug.

Mules ear is having a good year. Maybe it likes the cool spring.

Checkerbloom I believe.

The goldfields were looking good.

My first whipsnake of the season. He was sold cold I could have picked him up.

I don’t know whose brand this is.

Fence lizards were out in force for the first time this spring.

 

Pacific newts have a rubber look.

 

The does were in hiding with fawns, but a few bucks were around.

We went to a spot I’d never been before.

Instant replay of the earlier coyote.

For the second time in a weekend, a coyote stopped and looked back.

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Spring in the Altamont

We remained a ways off from the burrowing owls, not to disturb them.

Joe spotted a couple Swainson’s hawks gliding high overhead. Red-tails were hanging around a stand of eucalyptus trees and a ferruginous hawk was spotted on the horizon. 

Several Swainsons hawks passed high overhead.

 Joe also found a young king snake under a board. We took quite a few photos of the willing snake.

 

We found this very small king snake under a board.

 

 Burrowing owls were in their usual haunts. It was a nice day to observe.

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I Hate Running Over Critters

Snakes, like this gopher snake, like roads for sunning themselves.

Yesterday was a very hot day at the ranch.

I chose not to hunt, just scout and prepare for next weekend. As I drove past my tree stand I noticed that a doe was laying in the shade about 15 yards from my seat. Wonder if I buck had been around.

Quail were everywhere and many were quite small. As I drove the four wheeler down a road through brush, something very small darted in front of me. I was shocked to see two baby quail about two inches tall running directly in front. I slammed on the brakes and barely avoided them.

Last year the quail were about three quarters grown by archery season. This year none of them were half grown. Must be due to the late spring, but there are sure a lot of them.

Jumped a nice buck near the site where our friend Joe shot a very good buck last year. Good buck spot.

Put my ground blind near a stock pond and added some brush around it. Two does and a fawn were standing near it when I returned a while later. Maybe it will work out.

Checked out a new pond for tracks thinking it might be another tree-stand site. Not hardly a track at the pond. Wonder if the water is poor.

It was so hot that I could barely function. Decided to leave for home about 6:30 and drove my bike right over the front of my trailer raming into the back of my car. Fortunatly it just bounced off the spare tire and left me with the front wheels over the front rail of the trailer. Pretty exciting, but I just drove it back off. No harm no fowl.

Ran over a very large rattle snake on the way home. I normally watch for snakes, but with the sun low and my sunglasses on, I didn’t realize it was a snake until the deed was done.

Hated seeing the smashed rattler wiggling in the road. He was a four footer and quite fat.  Thought about taking a picture of the disembowled snake, but that would have been too rude.

He was also somewhat alive so I dispatched him with my shovel. For some reason I like snakes – not to play with like we did when we were kids, but just to watch and I hate running over them.

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Ranch Ponds in Spring

During March, April and May, the ranch ponds come alive. The early breeders are tiger salamanders, tree frogs and newts. Shortly thereafter come the red-legged frogs. Although you seldom see the adults in winter, their eggs appear each March.

The red-legged frog eggs are well developed.

California newts breed in the ponds and are particularly abundant in ponds that hold water throughout the year.

 As early as December, the tiger salamanders lay their individual eggs on grass stems and small branches. By May, the larvae are sometimes visible in ponds. On a good year like this, the ponds blossom in tadpoles and insects. The salamanders grow rapidly.

When they're abundant and the water's clear, you can sometimes spot the larvae.

By April, the garter snakes arrive and chase down tadpoles and salamander. They are impressive swimmers.

When the garter snakes find the ponds, they feed voraciously.

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Turkey Season ends on Low Note, but First Hunt Still a Success

When I invited my young cousins to come turkey hunting, I knew it might be slim pickens. However, being their first hunt of any kind, I figured it would be worthwhile training.

A couple of weeks ago, I retook the hunter safety course along with my cousins, Orion and Max, 13 and 15 respectively. I was a little surprised that they were willing to invest the time – being urban youths from Berkeley, a concrete and asphalt town where skateboarding is king.

I was pleasantly surprised that they took a liking to the curriculum. The course was all about the right stuff and the boys ate it up. A follow-up turkey hunt was in order. I don’t know if it was what they expected or if they had any idea of what to expect, but we prepared by patterning the shotguns and making sure they could kill a turkey if the opportunity arose.

The hunt fell flat. We didn’t hear a single gobble or see a turkey or turkey track for that matter, but we gave it our all. Along the way we did see a few rattlers and other wildlife. The boys managed to catch a few bluebellies and knock off a couple ground squirrels with the .22. We had one of them for dinner – not too bad.

On Saturday afternoon we visited the site of a known rattlesnake den. Sure enough this is what we found – a Pacific rattlesnake. Earlier in the say we found a very young rattler. Notice the difference in appearance.

Young Pacific Rattlesnakes have diamonds like a diamondback rattlesnake

The boys shot plenty of clays with shotgun, .22 rifle and even my .22 revolver. I think they had a pretty good weekend. But, it was hard to tell on Sunday afternoon as they slept in my car in route home. After getting up at 4:30 AM, we were all pooped out including myself.

Turned out Orion was left eye dominant. He switched to left handed and shot well.

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The Rattler and the Ground Squirrel

Woodpile rattlesnake

Turkey hunting was unproductive Saturday morning. By noon it seemed unlikely that a turkey would show, so I stopped at the cabin on our property, which is used by another former owner, and sat in the shade relaxing and eating some lunch. Movement caught my eye as a rattlesnake slithered towards a wood pile. It was a very large rattler and I wished my camera were at my side, but if was still on my ATV – thirty yards away and the snake was rapidly disappearing.

Then it was gone, but a California ground squirrel appeared and it was alarmed by the snake. As squirrels do when a rattlesnake is near, it began to flag it’s tail wildly. I couldn’t resist and with the squirrel so distracted by the snake, I moved to my ATV and grabbed the camera in hopes of videoing the squirrel and maybe even the snake.

Watch the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlUyANRtR74

Who knows what you’ll see next when you’re hanging around on a nice day.

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A Couple more Road Critters

No matter how hard we try, the majority of the critters we see are either in or next to the road we drive. I guess we just cover too much ground while driving. Passed this buck on the way home the other day. He’s not a huge buck but he is pretty.

Gopher snakes are harmless, but it’s surprising how many are killed by people who fear all snakes.

Here he is again a little closer.

The blacktail buck was laying only a few yards off the road, but in the shadows, he almost went unoticed.

Only a couple more days left to hunt on the ranch. I’ve got a couple of bucks I’ve been watching, but so far they have managed to survive. Maybe this weekend…

This guy doesn’t quite make the cut, but he’s close.

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