Monday, September 14, 2009

A Western rattlesnake encounter

While on the path that led to the parking lot
I stopped to look at the ground-squirrel nest:
6 newly born babies were moving about.

I heard a rattle,
looked down,
noticed a rattlesnake
crawling over my boots.

A ranger in back of me said:
"Stand still; let it go over your boots."
I did.

The snake's interest was in catching & eating
one or more of the baby ground-squirrels.

The mother ground-squirrel became aware of the snake.
She began kicking dirt to cover her babies;
she also kicked dirt at the snake.
The snake made one plunge,
missed, & crawled away...


- Ginny Zeitman
(Santa Clara CA)
vzeitman@earthlink.net

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