It was winter when I first discovered the Tandy Hills trails. The cold time of the year. As in too cold for reptiles to slither about.That following Spring, as the air began to warm up, I began to be concerned about possible rattlesnake, copperhead and cottonmouth encounters.
I had already had snake encounters at River Legacy Park, Cedar Hills State Park, various locations around Lake Grapevine and Village Creek Natural Historic Area.
Tandy Hills seemed to be just as wild as the other places I'd shared space with a snake.
So, I emailed Don Young and asked about the Tandy Hills snake status. DY told me that the only snake he'd seen was in the beak, I think, of a hawk. I felt re-assured.
I have now hiked on the Tandy Hills for years, doesn't matter if it is 110 or 20, I do my hiking. And in all that time I never saw a snake.
Until today.
I'm talking about that green monster you see in the picture above. It'd taken up residence on the newly plowed Tandy Highway.
This seemed to be a rather passive, friendly snake. It helped that it was colored such a nice, non-aggressive shade of green. It did not seem to mind that I got fairly close to it to take pictures. This activated no slithering. However, an hour later, when I passed that way again, the snake was gone.
Maybe it'd become hawk food.
4 comments:
By chance, I also saw a snake Thursday evening at THNA. It was a baby snake, either a copperhead or, probably a rat snake, which are fairly common out there. I also heard about a large, 6' rat snake that was seen last week being run over by a car on View St. The perp even backed up and made a second pass. When I arrived at the scene, the snake was gone. I pray that it survived. We need all the wildlife we can get in Dirty Ol' Town.
You know, no poisonous snakes live in Western Washington. They all slither around on the east side of the Cascades and down into Texas. There is no truth to the story that they're all attracted to Sweetwater.
I live just a few hundred feet east of Tandy Hills and saw my first snake of the season this week in my vegetable garden. I heard a buzzing noise, maybe like a rattle, and looked down to see a snake slithering away under the mulch. I didn't get much of a look at it, but it didn't appear to have the rattlesnake pattern - maybe it caught an insect that buzzed as it got bitten in half. By the time I got back there with a long stick, it was gone.
A few years ago I stopped for a long - maybe 5 feet- snake crossing Martel late at night. Don't know what kind he was, but he looked yellow in the headlights.
So maybe your green guy is one of many. I'll pay more attention walking around there from now on....
Yikes! You guys are making me think I'm going to start being more snake vigilant whilst hiking the prairie.
Steve A, I've seen poisonous snakes on the west side of the Cascades, in Washington. In Woodland Park Zoo.
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