Nov 07 2008
Indigo Snakes & Duct Tape
I’m back from Mexico (as of Tuesday, so I got to watch the election returns!) and leading field trips at the 15th annual Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. I’ve got some stories and photos from both sides of the border I’m anxious to share, plus I still want to wrap up the Panama press trip with one or two more posts.
For now, here’s a couple of shots of an exciting moment on yesterday’s trip to the Norias Division of King Ranch.
That’s me holding a Texas Indigo Snake, a most impressive creature. It was quite docile, making little attempt to bite once I’d gotten a hold of it. Below, you can get a little better sense of just how big this animal is.
photo © Bill Thompson III
I mean, I’m a big animal, too, and this snake was not too many inches shorter than me. It’s clearly longer than the tripod on the ground behind me, so I’m estimating it at around five and a half feet.
photo © Bill Thompson III
Above, Sharon Lynn feels the cool glossy skin of the snake. Notice that it remained calm despite our shoes being wrapped with shockingly colorful swaths of duct tape. We donned this unusual accessory to help prevent grass burrs from attaching to our socks and shoelaces. It was helpful, if not 100% effective.
It did add a goofy, almost surreal touch to the day, though. It’s hard to take things too seriously when you’re dressed like this. That didn’t stop Robert Kirk of Princeton University Press (in center, facing left) from being cool, though–he looks like he’s in a cologne ad or something.
So that’s a little bit of what I’ve been up to. I hope your days are full of colorful characters, too.
I remember the first encounter I had with a Texas Indigo. A friend and I were driving along the border, somewhere between Piedras Negras and Del Rio if I recall correctly, heading for Big Bend. My buddy spotted an enormous snake crossing the road up ahead and, knowing my … trepidations … concerning snakes, decided to stop for a closer look. This particular snake easily stretched a third of the width of the two-lane road, but as he was heading away from us we got out and down on the pavement to take some pictures.
Just as I got down on my belly and began to focus my camera, the darned thing decided he didn’t want to cross that road after all. Next thing I knew, this slithering behemoth was headed almost straight for me. You’ve never seen someone scramble up and onto the top of a pickup so fast! Or heard laughter nearly as loud as my buddy’s. Eventually he let me know this guy was neither poisonous nor a man-eater. It still took me several minutes to unlock my legs enough to climb down and retrieve my hat and what little bit of my dignity remained.
Sounds like y’all are having a good time at the RGVB festival. Good birding, and enjoy your stay here in the Lone Star State!
Most gnarly-looking snake, my friend! Better you than me grabbing that thing.
That duct tape looks like it belongs here: http://www.liketotally80s.com/neon.html
-Willy
Nice job of snake-wrangling, Jefe. I am always amazed by the depth and breadth of your general natural-history knowledge.
Add to that your ability to find the lyrics to “Burning For You” by Blue Oyster Cult in the wee hours of a Saturday night party and you’ve got the makings of a fine American.
BOTB
I have to concur with BOTB – you looked like the second coming of Steve Irwin as you wrestled that beast out of the brush.
[...] One we had a pygmy-owl in the bag, we could pay attention to more frivolous fare, like the huge Texas Indigo Snake Jeff deftly wrangled out of the tall grass. You can see from the shot below how striking this snake is but you should really read Jeff’s account to see how impressive a five-and-a-half foot indigo snake really is. [...]