Thursday, July 29, 2010

Corralitas Drive: Another Dead Snake Mystery


Photo: Esteban Gonzalez, July 23, 2010. Unidentified dead snake found on Corralitas Drive, about 20 feet uphill from the base of the Corralitas Public Staircase. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The neighbor who sent this photo, shot with his cell phone, saw no signs of what killed the snake. There were no obvious puncture wounds. It was not hit by a car. It's possible a hawk dropped the snake, as another neighbor witnessed in 2008.

Earlier this summer, there were a number of snake sightings near the Corralitas Public Staircase. There are also a lot of gopher holes on the hill. Perhaps neighbors with their the snake-killing cats have moved away, increasing the population of snakes surviving to feed on gophers.