Laguna Rattler

07/23/2006 @ 02:41:04 PM PDT
While in Southern California visiting friends and relatives this past weekend, I attended a religious festival in Laguna Canyon in south Orange County. Having lived in the Canyon a few years back, I know it's chock full of rattlesnakes, so I expected to come across one at some point. This young western rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus helleri) was found by a teenaged gal after she moved a small brush pile in an asphalt parking lot. The temperatures in California had been obscene all weekend, hitting 98 degrees at the beach, so all this snake wanted to do was stay out of the sun until it went down. I tried to tail it into a better photo position, but it was hard to reach and not cooperating, as is usually the case with rattlesnakes.

07/23/2006 @ 02:44:22 PM PDT