California King Snake
With the warmer sparing weather, the gopher and California king snakes are out in numbers. I’ve seen three in the past week, two of which were stretched out on the edge of the Rodota Trail near between Llano Rd. and Merced Ave. Both were about 3.5 ft. long. I encouraged them to move out of the way of bicycles and Rollerbladers. I haven’t seen any gopher snakes on the trail yet, but last year I encountered an individual in the same area that was nearly 5 ft. long.
The field adjacent to that stretch of the trail was largely mowed by last week and I imagine more than a few of these great snakes were caught by the mower, along with voles and other denizens of the field. I noticed buzzards and other birds working the new-mown strips.
Narrow-leaved mule ears (CalPhoto)
The wildoats and other annuals have nearly obscured the narrow-leaved mule ears (Wyethia angustifolia), but they were spectacularly numerous along the Rodata trail between Sebastopol and the Sebastopol Rd. trail head. Best I’ve seen in several years.
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May 21, 2009 at 10:07 am
Richard Nichols
It is wonderful to see so many snakes out. We’ve seen king, gopher and rattle snakes in recent weeks, including a king on our property. Even in enlightened West County, people are still afraid of snakes and might even kill them, but they are harmless (yes even rattlers) and have their place in the balance of life. So please enjoy them. For us at home a gopher snake on the property helps control their favorite food.
January 2, 2012 at 7:53 am
Viewing West of the Laguna — 2011 in review « West of the Laguna
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