Four and One

I heard a slight buzz which caused me to raise my sunglasses and look into the shade on the west side of a Juniper about three feet from my path. I had been working on installing a water faucet about ten feet away in a box in the ground and had walked by a few times without noticing the snake.

This was the fourth rattlesnake of the summer. Last week I saw a large beautiful Gopher snake by the small shed so the count for this summer is four and one.

I'm curious. The snake was lying on his tail. How did he rattle?


Resting Snake. (Larger version)