Both pictures are adorable.

Cornelia...almost made it inside💖💖

Its patterns look so much like a rattler.

Nope...red rat AKA corn. Rattler that close to the house would be History not Cornelia. Out on the back acres fine but NOT on the patio.

Wow totally cool. It IS amazing how similar it looks to a rattler. I'd be unsettled at that showing up on my doorstep if I didn't know the difference. 😮

Couple years ago one was in the house...by the time I got gloves it was trucking across the livingroom wall. Looked right pretty against the lime green wall 😏😏

Fieldsof_flowers said: Wow totally cool. It IS amazing how similar it looks to a rattler. I'd be unsettled at that showing up on my doorstep if I didn't know the difference. 😮

I know you kind of feel that way Johannian. But really they are quite big differences. You need to pay attention to the head and the head shape. Rattlers are not red. Those certainly are not Diamondbacks but I'm not sure how many Diamondbacks you're familiar with in your territory. There are many different kinds of rattlers. One thing that stands out right away when you look at Cornelia is she's not fat. Rattlers are more beefy. Open up two tabs on your PC and have the red rat snake on one and the rattler on the other and flip back-and-forth and study the differences. Those heads are really telltale to.

Thanks for the info, Ann. I knew it wasn't a rattler because of its small girth and general size, just was noting that its patterns looked similar; but I think Abby was saying she'd be startled in a split-second kind of thing, seeing how at first sight it could resemble a junior rattler.

I think snakes are really cool and interesting, all the different ways to identify and research them (I guess like most any other animal). Thanks for telling me about the heads being a good way to identify a species. Usually I just go by pattern and color, but sometimes snakes can look so similar I guess it makes sense you would need to tell by the head structure.

It's always a good idea to take a healthy look before getting too close. Make no mistake about it. Uu

cloudless sulphur butterfly nectaring on pineapple sage

This was yesterday's news about the fox that has been biting people in Capitol Hill. Too bad..she has rabies..and has been harmful already...sadly..I wonder if her litter will be euthanized too?

https://youtu.be/IJkFV3XHO_E

News report I saw today said the kits were also euthanized. Sad but probably necessary .

Another raccoon. These photos were taken Apr 3rd. Either this raccoon woke up quite early or is yet to sleep..so he got first dibs on the just refilled catfood.





As annoying as it was..actually the following day since I planned to wake up late to avoid this raccoon, it was good providence..because I was awakened by another commotion..which could have turned violent if I woke up early like before.
An intruder breached our sideyard and calls from the police woke me up about it, since they were chasing down a suspect.
So it was timely avoidance of a much nastier being.

@tarev Are these human invasions something regular? Those have been pretty close together.

I think she is speaking of the instance that already occurred, Mac. She just didn't tell the people in this thread about it.

McCannon said: @tarev Are these human invasions something regular? Those have been pretty close together.

No, I was just recalling same Apr 4 incident...and hope no more repeats.

Eptisecus fuscus (big brown bat)

Bats are really cool. We used to get so many in CA.

Not random but my squirrels are ROTTEN!!!

More so…smart?