Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 19:32:01 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Rick Sussman Subject: Re: Snakes vs. Birds? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 7/9/2003 1:59:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, Gabboon@AOL.COM writes: > > Snakes were my hobby as a kid. That hobby eventually led me to birds. > And I gradually transferred my focus almost entirely to birds as > snakes have become much harder to find. It may well be that they are > in far more danger than the birds. > > There is far more to this world than just birds and yourself. The > snakes and birds are ok with each other. They don't need any more > interference from humans. Try looking down while you're out birding - > and keep count of the snakes you encounter. > Steve, Snakes were my first "love" too, as a kid. My first Peterson field guide was to the reptiles and amphibians, which I still have. This led me to the field guide to mammals, and finally, when I was about 14, to the Peterson bird guide. I still am really, really fascinated by the snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, and salamanders. I love to see them in their natural state, doing what comes "naturally", including the taking of a few baby birds or eggs. As you said, the snakes and birds are OK with each other. They've been living together far longer than we have have been living with either one. I didn't mean to start this long thread, and never meant it to turn ugly. My story about the snakes was just that, a story, and thought it might prove thought-provoking for atlasers. I was truely fascinated by the snakes, being so high up in that sycamore tree. They were really neat to watch. I have a hard time watching the Animal Planet shows with Steve Irwin, especially those with snakes. Why must he pick up every snake he encounters? Why can't he just enjoy them as they are, without disturbing them. I like the fact that he is teaching kids about how beneficial they are, but really, why can't he do it without harassing them! Same for Jeff Corwin, but I suppose it makes for good TV... A few years ago my family and I were hiking down a trail to Lewis Falls, in the Shenandoah. My daughter was ahead of me, and she walked right past a sleeping, coiled Copperhead, which was right beside the main trail but off to the side just past a row of weeds. I saw it and pointed it out, took some photos, pointed it out to the folks behind us, and left it. When we came back up the trail a few hours later, it was still right there, asleep in the sun. 2 summers ago, as we were driving north on Skyline Drive (Shenandoah again) we stopped at a pull-off. There was a guy down on the AT who had found a rattlesnake in the "weeds". I went running down with my camera, and got some marginal pictures of the first Timber Rattler I have ever seen in the Shenandoah. This guy didn't even know what species it was, and it was the first rattlesnake he had seen in hiking from Georgia! Snakes should be exciting to see, just as a rare bird, something to celebrate!. We see so few these days... Rick (a snake, bird, insect, lover of life) Sussman Ashton,MD warblerick@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================