HollerPhenology

Snakes in the Holler

My last post on June 6th focused on a visit from a Mama Turkey and four babies. That same day, a short time after I saw the turkeys, I saw a rat snake crawling out of the grass and disappearing under the porch. A couple of minutes later, I saw what I think was one of the water snake species that live around here. Three days later I had this experience:

I took a break to gather and load trash around the planter garden. I used my cane handle to lift part of a broken bird bath so I could pick it up and bag it, and came face to face with a copperhead. She kind of came up out of the leaves underneath the bowl, twisted around a bit, moved away from me then turned her head back toward me. For a moment she was looking right at me – seemingly right into my eyes – with her mouth open, and hissing a bit. Then she crawled off.

After another week or so, I came home from town and found what looked like the same snake lounging on top of some bags of garden soil. Since then I've seen her often in that same spot.

Yesterday I saw her again and took a photo, noting some odd shaped bulges, and guessing that she had caught some food recently. As I got ready to share the photo later in the day, I decided to look outside the window to see if she was still there. There was indeed a snake on the soil bags. Since the light was a little better, I took some more photos.

When I uploaded them to edit, I couldn't believe what I saw:

Two copperheads curled up together near my planter garden. July 9, 2023 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

An unexpected gift from Mother Nature.

If you want to know more about copperheads, check out this great Northern Copperhead page at Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute

The bird is the word in the holler this week

An amazing new bird week started the day after my last post. On Monday, the 23rd of April, within a space of 2-3 minutes, I saw all of these birds right outside my study window (and not near the new bird feeder that no one has discovered yet!): a pair of tufted titmice, blue-gray gnatcatcher, male indigo bunting, two white-eyed vireos, a brown thrasher, cardinal, blue-headed vireo, male yellow-throated warbler, and an American redstart -- the first one of its species I have ever seen.

But it didn't stop there. On the 24th, I noticed a female Carolina wren catching food and flying toward a nest under my satellite dish. Over the next couple of days I saw both parents bringing food to the nest with greater frequency.

During my holler walk on April 27th, I heard the first wood thrush of the season, and, on the 28th, the song of a common yellow-throated warbler. 

Wren feeding nestlings on April 28, 2018. [Video: Cathie Bird]

I'm now into day 5 of the wren nest watch. After getting my video camera charged up for the occasion, I caught one of the parents -- the mom, I think -- bringing more food to the nest.

Yesterday while I was watching the wrens, I saw another holler neighbor crawling up my porch steps while my cat, Buddy, looked on:

Left to right: rat snake, buddy. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Once it crawled out of sight, I decided I should monitor its progress, first, to make sure it didn't turn back toward the wren nest, and, second, to make sure it didn't try to go through the pet door.

Up on the porch, I got the next two photos of the snake, and of the snake approaching my dog, Shadow, who came close to sniff but otherwise took alternate routes to his favorite porch spots:

Rat snake on April 28, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Left to right: Shadow, rat snake. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Very slowly the snake kept moving across the porch, occasionally winding its way up the hemlock sticks then back down to the rails. When I was sure it intended to keep heading north, I went back to wren watching.

Plenty of new things happened with trees and flowering plants as well this past week. The other American beech I observe for Nature's Notebook leafed out, and the Amur honeysuckle now has flowers.

Dogwood-3 has flowers, too:

Dogwood-3 flowers on April 28, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

After a rough growing season last year, Cutleaf Toothwort-1 has safely arrived at its fruit production stage. This is the first year I've seen its fruits develop this far. I hope to catch their ripening and seed drop in days to come:

Cutleaf toothwort (Dentaria lacinata) fruits on April 28, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Finally, here's a dwarf crested iris in bloom -- not too many out yet:

Dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata) on April 28, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Such an exciting week in the holler, and it's only the end of April!

 

5-lined Skink (juvenile)

A juvenile 5-lined Skink (Eumesces fasciatus), September 5, 2013 [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

Out in the holler this week: butterflies, moths and snakes

Lots of critters moving through the holler this past week. I've seen deer tracks down by the apple tree a couple of times. Some of the apples are falling off, attracting birds and at least one whitetail deer. Many other apples remain on the tree and are getting larger. Blackberry bushes are full but they don't have many ripe fruits yet. I've sampled a few on my holler walks though.

My best photographic evidence of wildlife has been of butterflies and moths this week:

Great Spangled Fritillary, July 8, 2013 [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

I've seen a male and female Diana fritillaries mixed in with the great spangled ones...no photos of them yet...they seem more leery of me.

On the other hand, this Little Glassywing let me get several shots from different angles:

Little Glassywing, July 8, 2013 [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

Last night this awesome Io moth came through the pet door into the kitchen:

Io Moth (Automeris io), July 11, 2013 [Photo credit: Cathie bird]

After taking a few photos I slipped it into a jar and back out through the pet door, but this morning it (or another one) was sitting on a window blind. I managed to get that one safely back into the woods just before I came in to do this post. This was a new moth for me -- always an exciting event.

My favorite photo of the week, though, is this common garter snake:

Thamnophus sirtalis, July 7, 2013 [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

I stirred this snake up out of the grass while I was checking out the Echinacea patch...I think I almost stepped on it. It squiggled away from my feet a few inches before curling up to defend itself. I love this photo because it caught the red tongue with its forked black tip.

I heard and saw lots of birds this week also. Just awhile ago I spotted several white-eyed vireos. At least one of them was a juvenile. I'm wondering if some chicks recently fledged. A male was singing outside my window just before I saw several others in the quince and autumn olive bushes along the fence.

Several crows have been making a racket as I'm writing this post. On holler walks I've heard jays, cardinals, yellowbreasted chats and plenty of calls that I can't identify yet.

 

 

Today in the holler: Timber Rattlesnake (photo)

Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), 29 May 2013 [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

One of my dogs spotted this timber rattlesnake near the porch today and started a barking ruckus that brought me outside to see what was up. I have seen rattlesnakes a number of times in the holler, but this is the first time I've gotten a photo.

Back in 2006 I wrote an essay inspired by my first encounter with a rattlesnake here in Tennessee, and what nature can teach people about getting along with one another.

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Update on phoebes in the holler

Not long after my last post on progress of the nesting phoebes and their chicks, activity in and around the nest ceased. It appeared that the chicks -- I had seen at least 3 by that time -- had either died or been eaten. The parents (or another couple?) immediately began to build up the nest again. Here's some video from May 8th:

 

To better understand what I was observing, I got a short-term subscription to The Birds of North America Online (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). The info there was very useful to interpret some of the behavior in this video.

After a couple of days of warp-drive remodeling, the birds disappeared. I wasn't sure if they had abandoned this nest for another one or were just in a holding pattern of some kind. As of Monday the 13th, I had decided they had abandoned the nest, and moved my vehicle and my own activity back to the porch-side of the house.

On Friday the 17th, I saw a phoebe near the house for the first time in about a week. It looked like this bird went to the nest but I was not in a position to observe the nest directly or get any video. Yesterday I thought I saw another visit, now, today, I got some video of a female sitting on the nest. So, next time I have to go out somewhere, I'll start using the back door again.

As I watch the newest round of phoebe activity, I'll continue to explore files on all of the bird species I observe for the USA-National Phenology Network at BNA. It's a terrific resource for more indepth info on birds and their life patterns.

By the way, on May 9th (and not too far from the nest) I almost stepped on a "creature of interest" in the disappearance of the baby phoebes:

Snakes like this black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta) are known predators of phoebe eggs and nestlings. [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

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No holler walk today but a rat snake pays me a visit

I didn't do a holler walk today because I had a seminar in Knoxville this morning. When I got home, however, I found a very interesting visitor near the door:

Rat snake, 7 May 2011. [photo credit:cathie bird]

I've seen rat snakes in previous years when they are shedding their skin -- usually they've been on the rain gutter or around a door. This one was on a shelf where I keep a few rocks. I'm not sure I would have noticed it if both cats hadn't been sitting together staring at something and switching their tails. When I followed their gaze I saw the snake.

One year one of these got inside. I heard some noise in the blinds on the door nearest the section of gutter where I often see them. When I went to invesitgate, I saw a large rat snake winding through the slats, with its head already at the level of the door knob. I waited for it to crawl down a little further, then reached around it and opened the door. It crawled back outside then, though a little too slowly for my liking. The next day I saw it around the gutter. After another day or so it disappeared, leaving only some shreds of skin to affirm that I had not imagined it all.

I used that same door to my advantage on another occasion. One night I heard something in the bedroom blinds -- turned out to be a bat. When I got up, he began flying around. I waited until he went out toward the living room, then opened the door. When he came back he went right out the door.

This winter I used a sliding door at the back of the house to let a bird out. It came in one night through the pet door, I think, and flew right up onto my arm. It was a wren...so small and light and soft-looking. It flew away when I moved, and spent the rest of the night alternately flying around and resting. The cats and my border collie kept their eyes on it but didn't try to go after it.

I figured it was no use trying any rescues until morning, but I had no idea how I was going to help it get back outside without a dog or a cat impeding progress. I mainly hoped it would stay out of their reach until I had a chance to try.

When I woke up in the morning, the bird was already flying around a bit. I kept track of its location while I hatched a plan, which came in a flash of inspiration. As soon as I saw morning light beyond the windows, I opened the back sliding door, making sure the panels of the blinds covered any part of the glass door that would not be open. As I crossed back across the room to where the wren was clinging to the log wall, I turned off the lights. I finally got close enough that he flew away from me, straight toward daylight and out the door. Awesome!