Still plenty of photos to feature, but the posts I have planned are not quickies, and today was a bit busy. However, early this evening a neighbor came by and told us about the scene in his own backyard, so I grabbed the camera bag and trotted (ambled) over there. I’m getting a reputation – good or bad, I dunno, so we’ll just leave it at ‘reputation.’
This is a medium sized eastern rat snake, or black rat snake if you prefer – either way it’s Pantherophis alleghaniensis. It had climbed the straight trunk to find this excavation created by birds, which likely had young in it, initially at least, though I would have thought it was a little late in the season for a nest. There are not a lot of reasons otherwise for a rat snake to be scaling a tree, so…
Definitely a curious pose, and very clearly aware of our presence, but it had also been there for more than a few minutes and is likely spending the night to facilitate digestion. It had better tuck in before the owls get active, though…