Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
I’ve been updating and cleaning up my birding records which has me going back in my files 15 years. In the Spring of 2011 several friends and I went to Death Valley and on the way home we stopped to photograph wildflowers in a big field by the side of the road, well you’ve heard the saying, beware of a snake in the grass. Beware of Rattlesnakes in the wildflowers!
That’s not the closest I’ve come to a Rattlesnake while hiking, but it was too close for comfort even with my 300mm lens.
Then we backed out of the field and headed back to our cars only to discover another Western Diamondback coiled up sleeping beside the tire of my friend’s car soaking up the warmth from the sand and car engine! The driver had to get in via the passenger side of the car.
It was quite the adventure!
Nikon D300S| Nikkor 70-300mm@300mm| PS CC 25.4
Happy Valentine’s Day!💗
more to come…
Circadianreflections Blog 
Horned snake
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YIKES! One of my biggest fears. I almost stepped on a coiled rattling rattlesnake in Missouri. I have no desire to go back to Missouri after that! 😀
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LOL! I hear that! Of course if there’s something really good in Missouri I’d go back but not in snake season! 🤣
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Wow! Great photographs and glad you are all right! I have never been near a rattlesnake.
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Thank you! There in a lot of places in California.
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I would have died! I am terrified of snakes!!
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I get that! I wasn’t feeling that brave myself, my retreat in my mind wasn’t fast enough!
One evening several summers back He-Man and I were having our evening walk and we decided to come back via the golf course and as we were walking along I was searching the rabbitbrush and sagebrush looking for birds so not paying attention to the pathway at all. When all the sudden I heard at my feet a very loud HISS! I jumped so high and looking at the same time I saw at my feet a very large Gophersnake standing up, hissing at me while also moving back toward the bush as fast as it could. We scared each other!! We made eye contact in that instant. My heart was racing and I’m sure that Gophersnakes was too.
I laugh about it now, but at the time it was scary.
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I would have probably passed out. I know that if we leave them alone they are harmless, but my brain shuts down at the sight, even in pictures.
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Oh gosh, that’s a scarier thought just freezing up! Fortunately, it was probably just as afraid of me and nothing happened as I backed up.
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Such terrible 🐍 Anita
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They are helpful though eating rodents. Thanks, Anita!
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I have come across a few on my walks, but I have been lucky enough to always have my distance. That is spooky, to have one waiting for you at the car! Don’t think I would stop there for pictures again!
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LOL! It was so unexpected!
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Nature and danger. It is part of being out there and teaches us be mindful of our surroundings. Often times when I’m out photographing, I’ll pause and look around behind me. You never know what could be watching you.
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That’s good advice, Robert! I look behind me because sometime there’s an amazing scene there just right for picture making. 😀
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Snakes send me running for the hills even small garden ones. That would not have been a good experience for me. 🙂
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Fortunately we had some experience coming across them before so knew what to do. I like seeing them, but from a safe distance.
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I rarely see a snake, but I know they’re around; I learned to stay out of the tall grass when I stepped on one. I can’t say what the species was, but it was coiled up having a little rest, and from the way it felt underfoot, it was big. In that case, we both were surprised. He went one way, and I went the other, and all was well. How cool that you got such great photos of these. I’ve heard that rattlers like the dunes, too. It’s probably for the same reason: the warmth of the sand.
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Sidewinders live in the dunes! Those scare me. I’ve never seen one but, have seen the trails they leave in their wake.
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EEEK! It really blends in with the dry grass and wildflowers! Too close for comfort for me too!
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I know they blend in so well I didn’t see it until I was nearly on top of it and it started moving and rattling a little.
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Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend… but I’ll pass on that kind.
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I’m with you on that score, Janis! 😀
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There’s nothing like fond memories of dangerous times … given the alternative. 🙂
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Well said! I recently saw an online video (not up close 🙂 ), of a motorcyclist discovering a snake inside his helmet… fortunately before putting it on!
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Yikes!! That would be scary!
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Ha! So true!! 😀
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That’s scary😳
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It was!
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Outstanding photos, Deborah. These guys give me the willies.
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How beautifully they blend with the surrounding environment Deborah, they would cause surprises to me also, as my eyesight deteriorates with detail. However they like birds are beautifully colored.
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Thank you so much, Ashley! They do blend in so well don’t they!
I hear you on the eyesight. It was the first thing that started to go in my aging process. Blech! 😭😀
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these are great pictures. But I’m glad that all the snakes that live here are harmless.
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Thank you, Richard! Wow, no harmful to human snakes where you live is pretty unique isn’t it!
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Wow! I’m glad I wasn’t with you guys on this shoot!!
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😀
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Since you’re not in the Garden of Eden with snakes, Have a Wonderful Valentine’s Day!!
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Thank you, Gordon! You and the Mrs. I hope are having a wonderful Valentine’s Day! 🥰
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Lovely photo, but 😳
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I know! 😲😀
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Aww… that sleeping snake! Almost a shame to wake it up. I know they are dangerous but this one looks so innocent. 🙂
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Deceivingly so! Their striking distance is half their body length, but they lunge at the same time with lightening speed! 😲
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OMGOSH! Wowza on sighting, and awesome shots!!
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Thank you so much, Donna!
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I lived in rattlesnake country for 20 years and saw them often, but never two in the same day! What I appreciate is that you and your friends just let them be and all was fine. Great photos, Deborah.
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Oh yes, we just let them be and try to back out or go around them whenever I or my friends come across them.
Thank you so much, Jet!
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A rather unpleasant surprise
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Definitely one we weren’t expecting! 😀
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Exactly
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The tire and the snake nestled against it bring to mind the motto “Don’t tread on me.”
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LOL! That’s good!
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None of us should ever tire of retreading a venerable slogan from American history.
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Here, here!
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Seeing these pictures is almost too close for me. Thanks for taking the time to get them, Deborah. They are great photos of a not so great subject.
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I was the biggest chicken of the group because I made sure to stay out of striking distance, but my friends got closer than I did to make images of the one by the tire. 😲😀
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I’d be behind you 😉
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😀
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Wow!
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That’s what I said too! 😮😀
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😀
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