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Sunday, June 28, 2015

Fat Rattler

The Acacia tree in our backyard is in full bloom
If you hike in the desert every day you're sure to see a fair number of rattlesnakes.  Becca and I have seen five or six already this hot season.  She spotted the Western Diamondback pictured below in time to make an appropriate avoidance response.  I was able to take photos without getting too close.  It was non-aggressive, though, having just eaten a morning meal (I think).  When I was done capturing images, Becca and I had to go off trail in order to give the snake a wide berth because it was right at the edge of the hiking path.
If you're familiar with Acacia you know how sweet the yellow balls smell

An out-of-focus bean from one of our Desert Willows

Sotol are flowering all over the northern Chihuahuan Desert

A yardstick worth of Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

A viperous-looking face

Distinct black-and-white bands near the rattle mean this is a young snake

It looks as if this snake had a morning meal:  Rat McNugget?

View to the south from Tortugas (Tortoise) Mountain

Hot dog in the outback

Getting hotter

No water in sight

2 comments:

Dr. K said...

I wish we could bottle the scent of the acacia so we could smell it year round.

packrat said...

I thought you were going to say so we could sell it, Dr. K.

:)

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