Pete Podurgiel

Timothy Norton wrote:I can't see the pattern good enough to give you a better confirmation but I would feel that it is fine to treat it as a "Nope Rope" and provide it a wide birth. Are copperheads common to find where you live or is this a new thing?

"Nope Rope"  LOL, haven't heard that one before.  Copperheads are known to be around in general, but I wouldn't say they're very common. We'll typically see ordinary garter snakes and black snakes for the most part.  We have timber rattlers, too ...but I've never seen any.  They tend tend to like rocky areas where the copperheads prefer to hang out in leaf litter, which exactly where this one was hiding out.

Carla Burke wrote:Yup. Copperhead. I have no scale, for age, however, it's not a 'baby', because there's no yellow tail. Another indication it's not super young is that it went away. The youngest ones- the yellowtails, are the most dangerous, because not only have they not matured into being able to control the venom released, but (like the young of most species) they tend to be more reactive than the mature ones, and are more likely to go on the aggressive, rather than leave.

We generally leave them alone, unless they're hanging out too close to us or the livestock. They're important to our ecosystem, and we live in the woods - so we've invaded their home. Unfortunately for us, many folks within about a5 mile radius of us have sold their land for development, and we're now being overrun with a lot of wildlife, that has nowhere else to go.

That's interesting about the yellow tails, Carla. I didn't know about that. This one was only about 12" long, I have no idea how fast they grow.  It was pretty groggy and it's head was tiny, so I didn't view it as an immediate threat, which gave me some time. While I went to get the camera, it had decided to go for the woods.  It has plenty of habitat out here and snakes have been rather scarce this year, so letting it go felt like the right thing to do.  

That's so cool, Carla!  I hope she enjoys her new pet.

It got me to thinking about getting a terrarium set-up myself, but I have too many projects as it is.  :-)  
Maybe someday when I have a little more time.

Was cleaning out the squash patch today and pulling-up the vines for composting.  Look who I woke up from taking a nap...

Needless to say, it was a little upset with me. It was just minding its own business before I distubed it, afterall.

Judging fom the shape of the head and the way it coiled-up into a strike pose on me, I'm guessing this guy (gal?) is a baby copperhead.   My first instinct was to kill it, but being the "live and let live" guy that I am, I opted to let it be.  Watching it venture off into the forest made me feel a little better about that decision.  Though, I'll be thinking twice before i go wandering through those woods barefoot again!

Hope you remember me kindly, lil' buddy.  We're cool, right?

Was just walking around the yard and noticed a lot of tiny mushrooms in the lawn.

Got me to wondering if the Hen-of-the-woods by the old oak stump was doing its thing.

Turns out, yes ...yes it is!     Would've let it get a little bigger before harvesting, but was happy enough to have found it before the slugs. :-)

Will be a good week to go hiking, maybe I can find some more,

This blows me away.  

Now, I can stand all types of creepy, crawly things. But truth be told, spiders kinda freak me out ...except for jumping spiders.
Jumping spiders seem to have an 'awareness' or innate curiousity, maybe even so much as a personality, that other spiders lack.  

Evidently, I'm not alone in my fascination and was completely amazed by the following videos.  I watched them in reverse order, but will start with the story of Janice, as it's shorter.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Janice the jumping spider


Do spiders dream?  (Spoiler alert: Yes, it appears that they do).  Not only that, they also have courtship dances  ...totally amazing!

When that happens to me, I'll douse it with hydrogen peroxide a time or two and follow-up with some iodine.  

Keep close tabs on it, hopefully the infection improves over the next couple of days.  If not, best to seek medical attention.

A quick heads-up  to anyone in the vicinity on southern New England coast - I witnessed a virtual river of Monarch butterflies heading west in Westerly, RI yesterday (9/18/26).

More specifically, this was at Misquamicut State Beach beach on Friday afternoon. I watched in amazement as hundreds, if not thousands, of Monarchs fly by me over the course of a couple of hours. Was one of the coolest things I've seen in a while.

Not sure if this is a natural bottleneck for them, a one-off event, or how long it will last, but if you are in Rhode Island or Connecticut (maybe Massachusetts, too) you might be able too see them if you go to the ocean today.

Video attached. It was wild how they stayed in a corridor along the dunes.  

My favorite trails/paths have twists and turns that make me wonder what's around the next corner.  

Eyes of the World

I make a maple syrup & balsamic salad dressing, but don't have the recipe at hand.

It's basically the same as this recipe, except the one I use calls for minced garlic. Yum!

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/159976/maple-balsamic-vinaigrette/