"Snakes. I hate snakes." - Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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How many of you have been walking along a trail or in your neighborhood during a spring afternoon, and unexpectedly came across a snake bathing in the sun? Or how about the first time you saw a snake at a zoo, nature center, or on the television? Try to remember the reaction that you had. Were you afraid? Were you excited? Did you sense danger? 

If you felt fear, have you ever considered why? Was it the way the snake looked (opposite of humans; hairless, legless, no ear lobes, skin, or eyelids)? Was it the way it moved, using its strong muscles to slither around or hold most of its body up into the air? Were you frightened by its behavior as it coiled up, struck in your direction, or slithered away to avoid you? Did you recall that some snakes are venomous, and the fear of death aroused an uneasy feeling in you?

If you felt any of these things, well, you are not alone. After all, it is scientifically suggested that humans have evolved to fear snakes - just as snakes have evolved with appearances and behaviors to scare you - and any other potential predator. In a world full of hungry animals, snakes are just another creature trying to survive.

There are almost 3,000 species of snakes in the world, and it seems as though Indie from the Indiana Jones series hated just about every single one. While there are many species of snakes to fear (like the 600 or so species that are venomous, such as rattlesnakes and coral snakes here in the U.S.), a majority of them are harmless and nearly all are, in fact, beneficial to us. Why? Because of what they do to survive! What do they do to survive? They eat! What do they eat? Potential disease or parasite carrying rodents and birds! Sometimes other snakes and lizards! They don't want to eat humans... well, that is, unless you look like J.Lo. or Ice Cube.

Snakes are predators, but most of them are not BIG predators - so they cannot eat BIG prey. In my backyard, the typical diet of local snakes includes field mice, small rats, and birds (snakes in other places will feed on insects, eggs, and invertebrates). Gopher snakes, garter snakes, king snakes, and rattlesnakes all dine in the same cafeteria, like my backyard. The result? I have no need for mouse traps!

Different species of snakes have different approaches to eating, and these adaptations make them more efficient hunters of their prey and encourage biodiversity. While some species of snakes constrict or suffocate their prey (i.e., Common kingsnake), pit vipers - the venomous kinds of snakes - strike at their prey with fangs and inject a lethal poison. Some snakes, especially after being in captivity, do not constrict but simply scavenge recently killed prey. These feeding habits can also be important defensive mechanisms.


One of the coolest things I have ever witnessed was a little cafeteria bullying between a juvenile Northern Pacific rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus) and a Common kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae). In an epic battle like this - who would you expect to win? The snake with the poisonous fangs or the snake with the super squeeze muscles? Well, there is a reason why the kingsnake is called such: it is the king! As the only snake known to be immune to rattlesnake venom, the kingsnake is 
notorious for feeding on rattlesnakes. Now that is a crown I wouldn't mind wearing.

As it fails to inject a lethal dose of venom into a kingsnake, this rattlesnake is on its way to becoming a meal itself.

Often when we talk about predators like snakes, it is hard to imagine any creature that could turn a snake into prey. But the reality is that snakes are prey to predators higher up on the food chain - primarily raptors and coyotes (and sometimes a kingsnake!). As snakes help keep population numbers of creatures lower on the food chain in check, top-level consumers control snake populations - all contributing to a healthy ecosystem. But if all of the snakes disappeared, populations of rodents could explode - not good news for humans or the food chain.


In order to be a sustainable contribution to the food chain, snakes have evolved over time to not only avoid predators, but to be excellent hunters. Their coloration and patterning is often a form of camouflage, varying from species to species depending on their habitat. Some snakes even have warning colors or patterns. Following the old adage, "Red on yellow will kill a fellow, but red on black is a friend of Jack," a coral snake is an excellent example of warning colors, or aposematic coloration. Other snakes, like gopher snakes, blend in perfectly well to their surroundings.

The coral snake is not a pit viper like a Rattlesnake,
but is the only other kind of venomous snake found in the United States.
 Its aposematic coloring follows the old saying,
"If red touches yellow, you're a dead fellow." snakecare.org

Another type of survival technique found among snakes in my backyard includes Mullerian mimicry, where a non-threatening snake will behave or mimic a dangerous snake. A popular example is that of a gopher snake posing as a rattlesnake: gopher snakes will flatten their heads to take on a diamond shape (a key indicator that a species is a rattlesnake, which has a diamond or triangle shaped head to store the pits in its cheeks), and shake their tails on the dry grass to make it sound like a rattle. Furthermore, gopher snakes have evolved over time to resemble rattlesnakes, and both species usually need a second look to ensure correct identification.

With a flattened head and nearly "ready to strike" pose, this gopher snake mimics 
many of the threatening traits of a Northern Pacific rattlesnake. 
A gopher snake's appearance and behavior - especially when threatened - 
is similar to that of a rattlesnake's, often leading to species misidentification. 
Photo courtesy of Krist Jensen.

If you felt nervous around a snake, perhaps you were feeling the very emotions that snakes have evolved to give you. In order to survive their environment, appear intimidating to potentially dangerous creatures, and do well as hunters, snakes present themselves with a particular nerve-wrecking style. Perhaps the next time you come across a snake, you'll take a gander at its look and behavior, and you may have a good idea as to what its intentions really are - and that, I can almost guarantee - is just to survive.  

Spring is germinating!

What does a lot of rain followed by an abundance of warm sunshine in the middle of February mean in the Bay Area?


For some it means a quick getaway to the beach before the rains return, or perhaps that "global weirding" is really starting to mess with our heads. But when the sun makes it out in the wintertime, sometimes the last thing people want to do is look at the ground (they're too busy thanking the sky for the warmth). But personally, I find it almost impossible to take my eyes off the things going on at my feet - the growth of new plants and fungi. Without this process, called germination, spring would never have the refreshing sense it provides us with every new bloom.

The germination of this California buckeye began
 at Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Antioch, CA.

Before a California buckeye is a full-grown tree, it is a seedling. Before it is a seedling, it is a seed, or a buckeye gall. When the rains come and is followed by an abundance of warm sunshine (ideal growing conditions), a physiological signal occurs within the buckeye gall, triggering it to begin sprouting. This is called germination. First the root forms and grows into the ground, and suddenly a young tree is rapidly sprouting towards the sky (a sporeling grows from a fungi spore). This is an important signal, not only for the plant and its growth, but for the insects, birds, and other wildlife that depends on this process every year for food and shelter.

But the problem with germination in recent years is the timing: germinating plants like California buckeye and oak trees have been experiencing germination earlier because of abundant rains followed by short periods of sun shine, once again followed by rains. If the plant germinates during a short window of ideal growth time and then drowned, there is a strong likely hood that the plants will not survive. This can have impacts on a plant population, and with fungus, can reduce the numbers of available decomposers. This in turn impacts the nutrient cycle and the food chain.

An acorn in the early
stages of germination.

So "global weirding" appears to be messing with more than just our heads. It is also messing with the most critical stage of a plant's life cycle by causing germination to begin earlier, when ideal conditions are more temporary and well, less than ideal. So the question becomes, How refreshing will spring be when it no longer begins the same?

Winchester Mystery Bird Solved!

What is spotted with red, white and brown feathers, has a black and white-banded tail, a sharp beak and talons, hangs out on street lamps, and took this inexperienced birder three months to identify? You might be able to tell me right off the bat, but for a long time, I called it the "Winchester Mystery Bird," or "Winny," for short.

Sitting on the same street light between 1 and 3 p.m. every fair-weathered day, Winny is the most reliable bird I know... but was the most difficult for me to identify. So, like every other new birder, I took it step-by-step and examined the clues. Starting with the sharp and down-turned beak, barbed talons, and general appearance, I could say one thing: Winny is definitely a raptor - or a stalking, stealthy, majestic bird of prey. 

From its perch high above the street, Winny can keep look-out for the abundance of perhaps small birds, mice, squirrels, and other rodents that thrive alongside the Contra Costa Canal. When prey is accessible, Winny swoops down, snatches it up with those sharp talons, and flies off to a safe place to eat. It is usually during flight that identifying a raptor is simplified: each species of raptor has either a unique "paint job" along the breast, under-wings, and tail, a special pattern or shape to the tail, or flight style.

Winny, however, refuses to fly when I have my binoculars or telephoto lens available and decides to fly when I am completely unprepared. But this, folks, describes the common experiences of any birder. 

Raptors are one of nature's most important elements. Because they eat rodents, snakes, fish, and even other birds, they help keep such species' populations in check. Without their contribution to the food web, there is a good chance that sprawling human communities could become overrun with disease-carrying rodents, or native plant and animal populations would struggle to survive their consumers higher up on the food chain. As a result, a raptor is an apex predator, or a top-level eater that keeps the food-chain balanced.

Knowing what kind of raptors are in your area can give you a good idea of what sort of rodents, snakes, fish, or smaller birds live near you: just as raptor species can vary in appearance, they also vary in what they consume or when they hunt (also called niche specialization). For example, a Red-tailed hawk is more likely to eat mice and squirrels, while an Osprey is going to hunt for fish. This is part of the reason why I was so curious about Winny's identity.

My Winny Notes contained the following details: Winny is a red head with a short, down-turned beak that is yellow with a black tip, has white and brown spotted plumage on the back, streaky red plumage on the breast, has a black-and-white banded tail that appears fan-like when folded but was unclear during flight, and gives a high-pitched "kah." 

Well, with those details and pictures in an Audubon bird guide, I narrowed the list down to two accipiters (agile, woodland hawks that primarily feed on small birds) and one buteo (high-soaring, open grassland hawks that feed on small mammals): Sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus), Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii), and the California Red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus elegans). Winny looks like the Sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawk juveniles, but also an adult California Red-shouldered hawk. Now what?

As new birders and young Naturalists, we always have more details to consider - like habitat and prey, or more anatomical differences. Think things through, step-by-step. For example, Winny hangs out on street lamps in fairly open habitat with a source of water nearby, and even though I have never seen this raptor catch a meal, I can get an idea of what is available. Since accipiters are designed for agility in wooded areas, is this open space the best habitat for Winny? Are there a lot of small birds around for a Sharp-shinned hawk or a Cooper's hawk to feed on with such a lack of trees? Which of these species have rounded tails, considering Sharp-shinned hawks have squared-off tails? 

Answering these kinds of questions gave me my answer: Winny is a California Red-shouldered hawk. 

What a new birder realizes as they take on birding is that identifying a species based on appearance alone is  not always the easiest way to go about it. For example, I have never seen the bottom of Winny's wings or tail during flight. We have to examine bird behavior, and seriously take into account the habitat in which we find them. Considering these factors, we can start to figure out what species we are observing, and inherently, their role in the ecosystem. I certainly feel better knowing that Winny is helping to keep all of those mice out of my house.

Let the interpreting begin!

If a human builds a cabin in the forest, is the forest still considered natural? If a farmer tears down a forest and grows corn, can the corn still be considered nature? If a community grows around the farming of corn, does nature lose its value to human culture?


Nature is a part of us, and we are invariably a part of nature. Our lives depend on its bounty, although few of us take the time to connect to those resources. Do we understand what nature is? Do we decide on what is natural? Does human involvement ever strip nature of being natural? How does nature affect the development or relevancy of human culture? There are so many questions to answer: the who's, what's, when's, where's, why's, and how's for every natural or cultural resource we encounter.


Every individual can come up with their own answers, but our solutions are merely a reflection of our own previous experiences, emotions, knowledge level, interests, and needs. But when a new resource is encountered, such as the giant redwoods of Muir Woods National Monument for an individual straight from the Mojave Desert, that person is generally inexperienced and unattached to the resource. This is where a resource interpreter, or some form of resource interpretation, becomes just as important as the questions that may be asked.


A resource interpreter - also called a Naturalist, Park Ranger, Park Guide, or plain Interpreter - is a knowledgeable person that connects an audience to a resource. They spark emotions, deliver knowledge, and provide experiences for technical and non-technical persons seeing, touching, smelling, tasting, or hearing a resource - from birds, to rocks, to weeds, to ancient or historical human sites, to the skyscrapers of today. Without a Naturalist or the words they write in brochures or information panels, our Mojave visitor may never feel connected to the ecological and cultural significance of Muir Woods.


Now, I am not a famous or a veteran-ed Naturalist. I am a recent college graduate that fell in love with resource interpretation by working as a Naturalist-in-training for a large regional park agency for the last three years, and I am now pursuing interpretation and environmental education as a career. While I connect a resource with the public on a regular basis, there is often a need for me to share things when the public is unavailable. And that is what this blog is about.


From the things in my backyard to the things in yours, I hope to be your backyard interpreter. Enjoy.


- Allison