Aves and Reptilia

Another pre-work run under my belt! I had intended to run yesterday, but just couldn't get up in time. I attribute my reluctance to two things - the extra scoop of soy dream that I had the evening before and failing to sleep warmly enough. I somehow scooted the blanket off the bed in the night, so I was sleeping much colder than I like, which meant it wasn't restful recuperative sleep. Last night I bundled up a bit in sweatpants before bed, so I was much more comfortable from beginning to end. Having Tammy the cat snuggle next to me helped, too.

While running today I came across a poor run-over garter snake of a good size - it was very sad. And then on my cool down walk, I encoutered a small alligator lizard that looked like it had met the business end of a cat, poor thing. But on my Tuesday walk in the park with Daniel -- we came upon a very young rattlesnake on the trail. I didn't even see him/her, but Daniel is much better at pattern discrimination. He spotted it and we moved him/her off the trail. The little snake was about as big around as a Sharpie pen, had no rattles, and was about eight to ten inches long. I touched the end of his/her tail while Daniel was fetching an appropriate snake-relocation stick, and the rattle-less tail vibrated back and forth quickly and silently. It was electrifying.

Then...on our drive out of the park, as the sun was setting and the light turned dim and reddish, Daniel spotted a great horned owl up in an oak tree. As we watched, the owl swooped out of the tree, crossed over the road and landed on the ground, where he walked a few steps and then captured a small snake! We had binoculars and were able to see these details quite clearly, but we were not able to tell what species of hapless snake wound up being the owl's dinner. The owl grabbed the snake in his talons and swallowed the snake whole from atop a dinner-table fencepost. Chilling and amazing at the same time.