Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 07:25:58 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Joe Halloran Subject: Re: Snakes vs. Birds? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks for sharing this - I am proud of your Dad too. Joe Halloran lowkey@speakeasy.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Huy" To: Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2003 12:38 AM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Snakes vs. Birds? > In a message dated 7/9/03 7:32:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time, > Warblerick@AOL.COM writes: > > > 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. > > My brother and I were birding along the C&O near Point of Rocks > several summers ago. Suddenly my brother launched himself vertically > about three feet and > landed with his legs spread wide. Between his feet lay a stretched > out copperhead about 30 inches long. > > Not to be like Steve Irwin or Jeff Corwin, I did pick up the snake to > move it > off the trail for its own protection from bikes or perhaps birders. > :-) I did > take the opportunity to study this freshly shed specimen while I held > it. The colors and natural camo were as beautiful as that of any bird. > And I appreciated this creature as being the most rare sighting of the > day, and perhaps > year. > > I once did the same with a timber rattler I found on a path regularly > travelled by horse near Roanoake, VA. (I advise that no attempt be > made to handle > venomous snakes without extensive experience in handling snakes - they > can be > dangerous even to experienced handlers and I more often find it safer > to chase > them off trails and raods rather than pick them up). > > But my first rattler was seen on a camping trip in PA many years ago. > My brother had found it and called me to confirm what it was (I think > I was about 8 > at the time). It was the largest rattler I have ever seen. My dad > came along > and killed it. > > Later Dad had a talk with us. He said he didn't know why he killed > that snake, but had done it just because that's what people always did > with them. He > expressed his regret for having done so and said it was not > necessarily the > right thing to do even though the ranger's were praising him for it. > I had been > disappointed the snake had been killed and was really proud of my dad > for telling us his feelings about it later. I think that had a lot to > do with my > current opinion of all wildlife. I better make sure I tell him how > proud I was of > him that day. > > I've always been a poor birder and half the reason is because I spend > so much > time looking down and under things for "creepy-crawly" critters. > > Steve > > > ====================================================================== > = > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= > > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================