[obol] reptiles, frogs and birds

[Andrew Marshall]

Hi Oboloids,

ee them.  Yes I remember swimming up around Hood as a kid and some snakes
>were in the lakes....yikes.  So what snakes swim?  And one more question
>since we are on the subject?  I remember seeing a OPB show about Oregon and
>they showed a little red snake about maybe 6 inches long.  I never have been
>able to figure out where these snakes really were and what their names were.
>Anyone out there know.  Maria
>>  
>>  

There are several snakes that appear red around here, (WA and OR).  Certain colour phases of the various garter snakes (Thamnophis sp.) have varying amounts of red on them, and I have captured ones that were virtually all red (very pretty).  Ringneck snakes (Diadophis) have red to orange under bellies and a neck band of same.  When captured they usually wriggle and curl the tails over and around, making a nasty smell and exposing lots ot red-orange colouration.  The most obvious to me though would be a juvenile Rubber boa (Charina) except these aren't really red, as much as they are usually a coppery orange colouration.  Any one see any Rubber boas, I would be interested (off list of course so as not to clocg up the list) in details as I am currently involved in studying them.  

And relax, most of the time most of the snakes are not in trees, they are on or under the ground.  


>
>     Just about every kind of snake we have around here will swim if
>necessary.  The same kind of undulating motion they use on land, works
>in the water.  Our garter snakes will sometimes swim to take insects off
>the water and will dive and catch fish.  I've seen one that thrashed
>about in a muddy ditch to put the fish into a frenzy, which apparently
>made it easier to catch them, as they came closely by.  I've never seen
>a snake catch a duckling, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened.
>There are a few garter snakes that get quite large and could easily
>swallow one.  In Alabama, I was trying to find birds near a pothole in
>the woods.  A cottonmouth moccasin put me on notice that I wasn't
>welcome at his pond and swam threateningly close all the way, as I
>walked around it.  A "No Swimming" sign wouldn't have been necessary
>with him on patrol.

I have some rather dim photos around here some where of a garter snake eating a small songbird whose ID I have momentarily forgotten.  The bird was an adult, warbler or goldfinch/siskin type size as I recall.  Don't know how she caught it, but I suspect it was already dead.  The snake managed to eat the entire bird and crawled away very bulged in the middle.  If I can find the pics I will scan and post them.  
And we used to use baby cotton mouths as bait for the gars when I was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio TX. back in the early 80's.  They would be under boards along the ditches, we would flip the board, pin them, and then insert the hook behind the head.  They wriggle like fury and of course float.  The gar would see them and race over to murder them.  Some pretty big gar too.  

>
>     Regarding the previous post about bullfrogs in Green Lake, in
>Seattle, I have observed them taking ducklings there.  There's a place
>called "Duck Island", where many nests are made.  I paddled a Kayak
>around there and several times saw mother birds go into a frenzy, as
>bullfrogs diminished their broods.  I might add that the cooking
>instructions given for the frogs didn't mention that only the hindlegs
>are usually eaten, if anyone doesn't know that.  They taste much like an
>extra juicy rattlesnake.  

Pardon my omission, yes, only the hind legs and fore-legs are eaten.  There isn't much of anything else on a bullfrog.  There is a picture in "Amphibians of Washington and Oregon," Leonard, Brown< Jones< McAllister and Storm, 1993, Seattle Audubon Society, Pg 145.  I have seen bullfrogs in lake Washington and some of the other Seattle area lakes as big as standard dinner plates... no joke.  They get really huge!   



Digging even deeper into the snake issue, did
>anyone notice that the big rattler on the "Kyle XY" TV show last night,
>was the black-banded
>variety?  I don't believe they live anywhere near the Seattle area,
>where the show is set.

No, the nearest rattlers to Seattle are in the area of Ellensburg, eastern WA. east of the mountains.  They are Crotalus viridis oreganus, the Pacific Rattler.  They often have black bamding on thier tails though.   I have studied the habits of these little buzzers for decades and find them (with a few exceptions) to be mild mannered and not really interested in interacting with anything human who doesn't come too close and who doesn't bother them.  Leave them alone and they are content to be ignored.  

best wishes
Andrew