§ Palm Sunday Morning....

A few years back, I saw just ahead of me on a trail while out birding a 5 rattle rattlesnake. It crossed my path!  Needless to say, I was always more weary of returning there. But got over it! And then, a couple of times, in the tall grass [one in the pond] at another refuge, as I walked - water moccasins! ALL, thank goodness were several feet ahead of me. I did, however, stop "dead in my tracks" each time. Still, I eventually kept going forward and watched every move I made until I felt out of harm's way.  If they're venomous, I don't react with my camera...I remain aware of each and every movement.  Yet, I have taken photos of snakes that are NOT poisonous.  For instance a Diamondback WATERsnake...shown here. [supposedly the largest non-venomous snake in North America.]  It was huge, that, I'll give you.  And it was watching me.

Then, on the local news, a short two minute segment showed that at a popular local hangout, at the beach, a huge, 6 foot diamondback rattlesnake was seen a few days ago. Naturally, some fool someone recorded it on their cellphone. Watch their video here.  Watch its forked tongue.  :::chills:::
Above image is a screen shot from the news clip.

Friday and Saturday, Bud and I took the notion to do a thorough cleaning of the house. From ceiling to carpet. In every room! Lo and behold, on Sunday then, the day I figured I'd take a morning off and walk the snake infested beach!! [lol]. Guess what? I got as far as Packery Channel of North Padre Island, and it was threatening to turn into some nasty weather. Which reminds me of Creedence Clearwater's "Bad Moon Rising".

Looks like we're in for nasty weather
One eye is taken for an eye.

I think, by cleaning house from top to bottom, it brought on the change in temps and lack of a sunny day. It sure seemed that way, and I promised myself I would not clean house again so thoroughly. I left home about an hour after sunrise, tho the sky was a "pre-dawn" gray; overcast. I still got out and walked the short boardwalk, not expecting to see any thing or anyone else out in the early morning hour, on Palm Sunday. The winds picked up, the sky darkened and the pleasing 70° dropped all too quickly as I figured I'd better head back to the car before I got soaked....

Check out the blackened, threatening, sky:

I drove home; made a cheesecake.

§ What Are the Odds?

I'm going to begin and end this post with some things.... odd ...

...at the Botanical Gardens, well hidden beneath a cactus plant...a rock!  Instantly, to me, it seemed like a human mask [Phantom of the Opera, kinda sorta?].  It's natural....not painted....I got down on the ground, and checked!!!

...a piece of rotting tree branch at Paradise Pond...I saw the heart of it all!

...slime covered oyster shells.  The odd thing was, for me, the distinct odor of rotting seaweed.

...what's odd about this?  Nothing really, except I don't know what kind of flower this is.  Oh, and there is a teeny tiny 'odd' bug on the petal.

...two things odd about this...first the fact I stood still long enough to get a photo of this snake!  I HATE SNAKES!!  Second, the leaf is heart shaped?  Odd something of beauty such as a heart can be near something so terrifying to me.  [Yes, it's caught a fish]

...odd!  What did this gull get into?  Oil?

...seeing double?  That's odd...so did I - There are two katydids mirrored [coupled] on the chain link fence.  [you may call them cicadas]

§ After The Storm...

I left home just before daybreak with overcast sky. By the time I reached the San Antonio/Houston ramps on the interstate, I was driving through a tremendous storm [blinding rain at times]. The worst thing I could do would be to pull off the road; I just kept going!! Eventually, I could see in front of the car again, but at times I had to slow down to 40 MPH and utilize my emergency lights along the stretch during the worst of it. I understand, after I returned home, that Corpus Christi was hit with a lot of rain also while Houston was under tornado-like skies and a couple touched down nearby in suburbs. Above me it was like it was midnight...dark, black and ominous. I was between Corpus and Houston.

I arrived at the park around 8 a.m. and spent the morning there, ate lunch in town, and returned to the park for one last walk around, getting home about 3 pm...

When I first got there, I was the only one. NICE!! I love the peace and quiet. I was going to enjoy my walking....wet and soggy tho it was. The winds were chilly to begin, I got my fleece hooded jacket out of the trunk, grabbed my camera and walked....

First thing I encounter was a broken tree from the daybreak's downpour..

...one outlook that extends over the river had a lot of debris.



...but the river was calm




...the spillway and Kingfisher Point, on the other hand, was a bit turbulent. Normally, this area is dry.



...the park's pond was quiet but some spill-over was swiftly running over into the cavern.

By mid-morning, more birders arrived and some of the wildlife awakened after the deluge! I spotted one male Green Kingfisher [got plenty of photos of it for my bird photography blog], the ground was literally swimming with both male and female cardinals, pewees, red-winged blackbirds [male and female], woodpeckers, chipping sparrows, lincoln's sparrows, one wilson's warbler, grackles, doves, vultures soaring, a flock of black bellied whistling ducks did a fly-over, vireos singing and kinglets flitting here and there.  Loads of Fox Squirrels and a couple of turtles....

After my trek to town and lunch, I returned for one more walk around. The pond is near the parking lot and heading back to the car, I spied this on the log in the pond...

DIAMOND BACK WATER SNAKE
[largest water snake in North America]
{non-venomous}


Yep, definitely time to LEAVE and head home!!!! I HATE SNAKES

§ Duck dyNASTY

I have an ulterior motive for titling the post today with NASTY all in capital letters. You'll see why, later. Bud and I haven't been out birding much the last couple of weeks, holiday stuff, cough, and now a cold front moving in where the temps are dropping from the 70s to the low 40s - high 30s.

Anyway, I thought I'd share with Eileen's new Saturday Critter Meme ...the debut is this very weekend. My meme links are always on my sidebar, so Eileen's Critters' link is found there to follow, along with the ever-so faithful, Misty Dawn's Camera Critters. So, if you are sharing any kind of critter on your blog today, go over to Eileen's and Misty Dawn's blogs and add your link!! These ducks I share are all migrants [well, the shovelers tend to stick around 90% of the year here; at least in some near-by lakes]...

Now comes the NASTY in dynasty! While we were trekking out of the salt flat area of Charlie's Pasture North Refuge, we stopped on the path to talk with another birder. She was carrying a huge camera and tripod with heavy lens and wanted to know what kind of camera I used since she was seriously thinking of replacing her heavy camera for a much lighter, less bulky, one. We compared images on our digital's card and we agreed that my photos on the smaller camera were just as good as hers on her more expensive equipment. BUT!!! While we were chatting away with a typical Texas-friendly conversation, between us we had an intruder at our feet...

...I don't care what KIND of snake it is/was, it was nasty, slimy, and I gave it wide berth and left mighty quickly. I swear if it would have been poisonous, I think it'd have been slipping in my you know what! Seriously I have a deep hate for snakes. Bud laughs it off when I say "I won't be back in this area for a while".

sidebar linking to Saturday Critters & Camera Critters

§ Just 'cause they're creation...doesn't mean I like 'em!!!

...the last of the snake images; I hope!!


For Wednesday's post on Wild Birds, I published/shared one photo of a pair of American Coots standing on reed [water grass]...just beside the pair was a huge Diamondback Water Snake [non-venomous], as if the two didn't have a care in the world...least concerned over their daytime neighbor. The snake itself, also, wasn't a bit interested in the birds. I wondered why?!! Do they not eat birds or bird eggs? I guess not. At least not what I read online about their diet. This is a rare water snake which may be mistaken, I read further, for the venomous cottonmouth.  I've seen a cottonmouth in real time and for me, it doesn't come close to resembling a water moccasin!!   This snake, tho, is diurnal, but during hot weather, it may become active at night. It may be observed basking upon branches, shrubs, tree roots, and along the banks of waterways.  They are wary and will slip off their basking perch at any sign of danger and will dive to the bottom and anchor themselves to logs, branches, rocks, or other debris. If cornered, they will flatten their jaws and bodies. They will strike and bite viciously and repeatedly. If picked up, they will release a very unpleasant musk and fecal matter, and in very nervous specimens, regurgitating any recently eaten meal. Even after being held for some time, they will not miss an opportunity to bite, and since they a rather large snakes they have long teeth that make the lacerations bleed profusely. The treatment, however, is only soap and water. These are non venomous snakes! Diamondback water snakes are probably active from April to October, spending their winters underground. And their diet? --Diamondback water snakes are active hunters and may hunt both day and night. They feed on a wide variety of animals associated with water. Fish, amphibians, baby turtles, young snakes, worms, leeches, insects, crayfish, and mammals are consumed. A wider variety of prey is utilized at higher temperatures. They hunt by patrolling the water next to the shore for food. They sometimes swim through a school of small fish with their mouths wide open and swallow anything they can catch or herd fish into a shallow area of water and then create a barrier with a loose coil of its body. These snakes are not constrictors and simply swallow prey alive. I see no birds listed what-so-ever as their meals, on any other site, either. So guess the Coots knew this, and of course, me being a snake-hater, I didn't know.  And never really wanted to look up any info 'til I saw it inattentive to the birds beside its daybed. LOL

Denise, from Shortybear's Place, commented that "Snakes Freak Me Out"...you and me both!! I have a deathly fear of them. This snake however had several yards between me and it. And I was above ground on a boardwalk. LOL So, after watching it slither around on the reed, basking in the noon-day sunlight for a while, I began taking a few photos. It's said to tell the difference between a venomous snake and at non-venomous snake, look at their eyes; their pupils!! I say........WHO THE HECK WOULD GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO A SNAKE TO CHECK THE SHAPE OF THE EYES/PUPILS?!!! Not me, thank you very much.