Nature's surprises aren't always as beneign as a bull snake. I gave this Brazos Bend Texas State Park alligator sleeping beside the trail I was walking a wide berth. Photo by Pat Bean
“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.” Ashley Montaqu
Bull snake -- Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
Travels With Maggie
Maggie and I, out for one of our daily walks here at Lake Walcott State Park yesterday, weren’t looking where we put our feet as we rounded a curve that took us back into the campground.
I was watching a red-winged blackbird, admiring the contrast of scarlet epaulets against black feathers, and Maggie was keeping her eye on a dog sitting beside a nearby RV.
I’m not sure what caused me to look down, but one more step would have put my foot on the top of a long snake that had evidently been sunning itself on the paved trail.
I jerked Maggie back and let out a yelp, followed by the words “a snake!” I wasn’t afraid, just surprised, and loud enough to alert nearby campers who all came rushing over to see it for themselves.
The snake, in the meantime, was slithering as fast as it could toward a scattering of rocks beside the trail. All the onlookers got to see was the end of its six-foot ropey body as it eased itself out of view.
It was a bull snake, which isn’t poisonous, and I suggested that everyone just leave it alone. I hope they did, because bull snakes eat small rodents, the kind that twice have found their way into my RV.
Up until the snake surprised us, my walk with Maggie had a sameness about it. The snake gave it the exclamation point that set it apart. While the red-winged blackbird was a joy to behold, the more rarely observed, although not as pretty, snake made the walk more memorable.
I think I would have let out a bit more then a “yelp” at that surprise. There is something to be said for a routine!
Good for you for finding the grace in your encounter with the bullsnake. They really are lovely, but they do get big, and those diamond-pattern scales make the look quite like rattlers. I used to have one living under my cabin in northwest Wyoming. I never had a mouse problem!
The diamond pattern I think is what startled me the most, although Have seen lots of rattlers, I immediately knew it wasn’t one. I only identified it as a bull snake after getting back to my RV and looking up Idaho snakes. The first picture of a bullsnake I saw quickly confirmed its identification. And it was a nice big one. Pat