Live and Learn (Snake Images)

From my archived images, I found some images that I have not previously posted. Not long after moving to my rural Missouri home, I began seeing Eastern Bluebirds on the property. Subsequently, I fabricated several bluebird houses and set them up all around my 9.5 acres. The next spring, as I walked the landscape, I noticed a strange sight from one of the houses. Moving closer to the box, I saw a black rat snake (commonly referred to as a black snake) inside the box, with his head at the box opening:

Black Rat Snake (black snake) in a Bluebird house

I hurried back to the house and grabbed my camera. As I returned, he was beginning to make his exit:

Black Rat Snake (black snake) in a Bluebird house

JimBraswell-DMK3-5017-BlkSnakeInBluebirdBox-3

Black Rat Snake (black snake) in a Bluebird house

Black Rat Snake (black snake) in a Bluebird house

As you can see, he was pretty large! Fortunately, there were no birds nesting in this house. But I quickly learned that I needed to keep all trees/shrubs well away from the houses, to prevent this from happening when a bird might be nesting in the box. I had prepared an outer, plastic sleeve over the post (to prevent a predator from climbing up the post and into the house), but hadn’t thought about the encroaching trees! You live and learn :o)

Photographic Equipment Used:

  • Canon 1D Mark 3 body
  • Canon EF 100mm-400mm, f/4.5-f/5.6 IS lens, with Canon 1.4x TC, shot at 460mm to 540mm
  • Handheld, with IS “On”
  • ISO 400
  • Aperture f/8
  • Shutter 1/500 sec.

 

 

Posted in Nature Photography, Reptiles and Amphibians
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