This is dead easy, but several hikers missed this giant Galápagos tortoise along the trail (Isabela island). Can you spot it? This is rated “easy-peasy.”

Did you spot the garter snake in this morning’s photo, sent by reader Pradeep?  Here it is, along with an enlargement of the photo. Click photos to enlarge.

I think this may be the hardest “spot the” photo we’ve ever had.

The stripes are one clue, but they’re very hard to see in the big photo:

There’s a garter snake (Thamnophis sp.) in this photo somewhere. Can you spot it? If so, don’t give away the location in the comments; just say you found it. Click the photo to enlarge it before trying, as this one is hard.

Reveal at noon Chicago time.  (h/t Pradeep).

Did you find the copperhead snake in this morning’s post? Here it is. I never spotted it and had to have help from Pradeep:

An enlargement:

For me this was very hard.

Reader Pradeep Satyaprakash posted this photo on FB, but credited it to another:

“I took this picture while hiking on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina [Asheville] in August. My shoe had come untied and when I bent down to tie it I saw the first copperhead I’ve ever seen about 16 inches in front of my face.”

Anyway, there’s an Eastern copperhead snake  (Agkistrodon contortrix)in the picture. Can you spot it? The reveal will be up at 1 p.m. Chicago time. If you find it, say so in the comments, but please don’t reveal its location. You can click the photo to enlarge it.

 

Ken Howard sent a photo of a hidden rattlesnake, and you should try to spot it in the photo below (click to enlarge). I rate this one as “fairly easy,” but it’s good for novices to develop an eye for cryptic wildlife, especially when it’s venomous!  Ken’s notes are indented:

An easy one for your consideration. From this morning’s desert hike [Sunday] – a Western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox). My father-in-law constantly warns me when I cross desert hike to ‘watch the shadows’. For good reason.

Ken sent two lagniappe pictures as well, taken on July 12:

I attempted to observe comet Neowise this morning, rising at 3:30am and hiking two miles to a place I hoped would provide a clear horizon in order to view and photograph the comet.  Unfortunately, clouds from the previous evening’s storms obscured the area I anticipated seeing the comet, yet Venus was clearly visible.  Although disappointed, I listened to the beautiful twilight desert chorus crescendo as the sun rose.  Owls and nighthawks flew past as quail and doves scurried and cooed.  I was perched on granite boulders watching as the sky revealed a palette of pinks and blues, whereupon I heard the faint but distinct rattle somewhere below me.  I can’t think of any other sound that quickly grabs ones attention from the tranquility of the desert. Nature’s alarm clock that it was time to hike back home. Will try again tomorrow morning for a glimpse of Neowise but probably from a different location.

Now, to see the “reveal” of the rattlesnake in the top photo, click “read more”: Continue reading “Spot the rattlesnake!” →

Did you spot it in this morning’s photo from Christopher? I’ve circled it in the “reveal” below, and Christopher send an enlargement below that. His notes:

The Rough Green Snake, Opheodrys aestivus aestivus. It is quite widespread in Missouri, absent in only the northernmost counties. According to my copy of The Amphibians and Reptiles of Missouri by Tom R. Johnson, (2nd ed., 2000, Mo. Dept. of Conservation) its length ranges from 560 to 810mm and the tail makes up as much as 38% of its length. It’s no bigger around than a pencil, really.

It is highly arboreal, diurnal, and its diet consists of caterpillars, spiders, crickets, grasshoppers, dragonflies, and damselflies. It relies on its coloration to hide it among the trees and vines, and if wind moves the branch it is on it will sway with the vegetation. It is of course completely harmless (unless you’re an insect or arachnid) and a study by M. V. Plummer in Arkansas (Herpetologica 24(3) 1990b)  found that gravid females were preyed upon by speckled kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula holbrooki) and southern black racers (Coluber constrictor priapus) but no word in the book about other predators. I know it’s not venomous, so I don’t know if it counts, but I can’t help but look at this beauty and channel my inner Steve Irwin and say “what a rippah!”

This might be my favorite Missouri snake species, perhaps because I have so much trouble spotting them in real life but also because their coloration (dorsal color an unbroken light green, creamy yellow ventral) is so different than any other Missouri snake and seems almost tropical to my eye. Here’s a closer look:

This might be my favorite Missouri snake species, perhaps because I have so much trouble spotting them in real life but also because their coloration (dorsal color an unbroken light green, creamy yellow ventral) is so different than any other Missouri snake and seems almost tropical to my eye. Here’s a closer look: