I’ve circled the snake from today’s earlier “spot the ____” puzzle, and enlarged it. Did you find it? Do you know the species?
Here’s the snake!
February 25, 2017 • 12:00 pm
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Just a wild guess – Eastern Diamondback (Crotalus adamanteus
I must be suffering from a brain tumor. I still can’t see it. Even in the closeup.
😎
It is curled up. Really blends in, spotted.
Nor can I. Time for new glasses?
I don’t see it either 🙁
It’s actually harder to see in the close-up, because it is so pixelated. The snake is right where I thought it was. But if I hadn’t been told that there was a snake in the picture, I would have remained unconvinced.
There’s an idea for a new challenge. half a dozen photos, which one has the nightjar, and where?
“half a dozen photos”
The constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. 😎
Dusky pygmy rattlesnake
O, I cannot see it eithet and soooo hope to goodness that I do not happen to meander (too) near by to one; but thank you, Mr John W, for its id !
I love snakes and have often handled nonvenomous ones (even, as a mama of kiddos, owned for years and years and through triply – stapled bagfuls of its / Rex’s [kiddo liked Latin so, yeah, for ‘king’ although it shoulda been named Regina as it was a she – snake / the State’s herpetologist] mousy groceries month after month a so – darling Eastern Florida Kingsnake) but just cannot handle being startled, particularly by venomous ones.
Blue
It’s a Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake (Sistrurus miliarius barbouri), which is very small and can be incredibly abundant in parts of Florida.
They can be very agressive too. I almost stepped on one walking through my neighbors front yard one day. It repeatedly struck at me. Full body length + strikes. It would quickly coil up then throw itself at me completely extending itself, forcful enough that it was actually moving more than a body length each time. Did that at least six times in a row, very quickly. I decided against trying to catch it to show it to my kids.
Though grouchy it was beautiful.
That’s no snake. That’s a morel mushroom.
Beat me to it. 😀 Was going to post that I’d zeroed in on that distinctively patterned patch right away, but without enough focus (for me anyway) to make any particular shape out of it I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t some sort of fungus. See not only morels but also some other spp of fungi here with patterns that might look like the one in the photo:
https://www.google.com/search?q=fungus+with+diamond+shaped+surface&rlz=1C1TSND_enUS617US619&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7rbGb46zSAhWp6oMKHeYBDgEQsAQIGw&biw=1366&bih=662#imgrc=_
I was looking at what I thought was a snake’s head sticking up and a body snaking away behind, at about one and a half circle diameters away from the circle, at about 2 o’ clock. Am I going mad?!