Saturday, June 25, 2005

Porch Wildlife Continued...

After the polyphemus moth, I had some film to burn. As I walked around the corner of the porch, looking for a bug or lizard to photograph, I came face to face with a grey rat snake. He was cruising along the top of our porch railing, weaving in and out of the Christmas rope lights which are STILL up. How bubba is that?
Back to the snake... I know what this guy was looking for. Treefrogs. There is a bumper crop of tree frogs this year. They are everywhere. Every palm frond, every gutter, every trashcan lid, every window frame. There are zillions of tree frogs around the place and the porch is like treefrog central.
The ratsnake crept along the railing, descended a downspout to check out a frog, then returned to the rail. I thought for sure he was going to nail this one treefrog sitting on the downspout. At one point they were only a few inches apart. The snake kept smelling with his tongue. The frog went completely still. Tension in the air. Then the snake backed up and continued his slide along the rail. So much for that action shot.
Later the snake stretched down to a shrimp plant and crept off the porch.

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