Pacific gopher snake ~ 06/09/11 ~ Pinnacles

Pacific gopher snake
Pituophis catenifer catenifer

This individual was huge. Later this same day as we were getting dinner ready at our campsite, Andy noticed motion in a tree and something take off. At first it looked like a kite (the toy, not the bird) with a long tail that kept circling around in large sweeping motions. As we kept watching, it became clear that it was a very large bird of some sort with a long snake in its talons, about twice as long as the wingspan of the bird. The bird soared around with the dangling snake, hardly flapping its wings at all, for a good 15 minutes or so. We guessed it was an immature golden eagle based on a "Mantenga sus ojos en el cielo" condor pamphlet the park ranger gave us (she was out of the English version). Does anyone know if this is typical behavior? It reminded me of the coat of arms of Mexico that is used on the national flag.

Pacific gopher snake ~ 08/04/10 ~ Fort Ord

Pacific gopher snake
Pituophis catenifer catenifer

posted 08/14/11 - This is totally a wild guess as to species. Another possibility could be the California king snake (Lampropeltis getula californiae). However, I can't imagine any other snake as large as the skin and skeleton, both of which were well over 4 feet in length. Would there be any other snake shedding its skin actually in a gopher hole? Plus, on the skeleton, I think I see a characteristic dark line coming straight down from the eye.

Pacific gopher snake ~ 06/09/10 ~ Mt. Madonna

Pacific gopher snake
Pituophis catenifer catenifer

Thanks to Cindy at Dipper Ranch, I feel very confident in identifying gopher snakes now. I look for the dark line that drops straight down below the eye. Gopher snakes sure can get big! This one was easily over 4 ft. long.

Pacific gopher snake ~ 05/06/10 ~ Pinnacles

Pacific gopher snake
Pituophis catenifer catenifer

Why did the snake cross the road? Apparently, to find a mate! Or sometimes seem to just sit there in the middle of the road while an oncoming large object, i.e. a car, comes zooming at it? We saw this snake looking a bit flattened like it had melted slightly and zigzaggy (don't know how else to describe it). I got out of the car and touched its tail end simply to check if it was still alive. Sure enough it firmed up and started moving along. Fascinating!

Okay, considering the last time I touched the tail end of a snake, which may have been a baby rattlesnake, I still need to learn how to recognize local snakes. CA Herps posted what looks like an interpretive sign from SBMNH. I had to laugh because it tells you to look at the eyes and see if the pupils are rounded or vertical. Hello? I'm not sure I want to be close enough to a rattler to look lovingly into its eyes. But, what do I know, I need to stop pulling snake tales (pun intended). For a better interpretive sign, see EBRPD's.

ps - Truth in advertising, the first photo above was "enhanced" with iPhoto. I think I like this iMac.

pss 05/10/10 - Found this awesome local snake post from Dipper Ranch on how to tell the differences between snakes.

Pacific gopher snake
Pituophis catenifer catenifer

I grabbed its tail with hopes to get it to move off the trail. There are so many mountain bikers at Fort Ord that I didn't want it to get run over. Much to my surprise, instead of slithering off, I could feel it vibrate like a couple beats of a cell phone's silent mode. Then it crouched as shown above. I'm guessing it was a young rattlesnake! I need to learn a little more about recognizing snakes. It still looks like a gopher snake to me.

ps 05/10/10 - I originally posted this under rattlesnake? Thanks to Cindy's comment below, this is confirmed to be a gopher snake (I corrected the ID above). I'll have to inform my mother-in-law. She was hiking with us that day and my pulling the tail of a baby rattlesnake has been one of her after-dinner stories. See Cindy's Dipper Ranch post for excellent rattlesnake information.