I love the crisp, cool mornings and the warm, sunny afternoons of early fall. As I was walking along the river path, I came across another creature enjoying the warmth of the sun - the Pacific Gopher Snake. I’ve read that they get their name from using gopher borrows as habitat. That said, they will eat gophers, other small mammals, birds, and lizards. Gopher snakes are constrictors and nonvenomous. To scare off predators, they will mimic a rattlesnake by coiling, hissing, striking, and vibrating their tails.
Earlier in the summer, I heard the mild agitation call of a robin, and when I went to take a closer look, I saw a Pacific Gopher snake climbing a tree.
Click on photo to enlarge.