Local wildlife pic

Its a rattlesnake and in the right place to be an Eastern Timber Rattlesnake. By my best guess, its a female and most likely laden with young ones soon to be born. It could be we are relatively late in the year for new ones to be born, but the time varies with geography and yearly weather patterns. Thanks for giving her (him) the pass. I've only seen a couple so far this year and they were both victims of previous traffic. Tom

Tony, Is that snake with the barbershop tail from your area of California (i.e. north of southern CA). I'm used to Pacific rattlesnakes not having nearly as distinct differentiation between the white and black rings on tail (usually its more like grey and black). Now if you were to tell me that snake is from coastal or foothill southern California, I'd say you have a nice red rattlesnake there. Curious minds want to know, if you want to share additional information on where it is from. Tom

Crotalus viridis oreganus - western or prairie rattlesnake. The species is quite widespread and hence quite variable in color pattern. We have a related subspecies here in New Mexico but a bit different in coloration and body shape.