Nature Pictures with Animals...My Backyard Adventures!

Backyard nature pictures with animals is part of my collection of free public domain photos.  It's a curious compilation of varmints that I've encountered while gardening, walking or visiting wildlife refuges.

Come see what's visited me!  Then you can use these pictures for your projects or just enjoy them.

Snakes!

Ewww... not my favorite backyard visitor.  But living along the Gulf coast means lots of them!  They've come in many sizes as you will see. 

And they keep coming.

Here, in no particular order, are the snakes I've had the pleasure of photographing!  Sorry, I don't know the names of most of these. Perhaps some expert out there would help?

I think these were all harmless, well not venomous anyway.  But I always give them plenty of space!

This is a ribbon snake that was hunting around my pond.

This long (about 3 feet), dark snake slithered around my pond looking for a snack.  Never saw it get one but I stayed out of its way!

This fat, long, dark snake showed up one night.  The quality of the picture suffered because there was no way I was going outside to capture this specimen! 

I enjoy taking nature pictures with animals but not so much with these guys.

One sunny afternoon, I came up from my fishing pier to find this sunning on my doorstep, literally.  I would have had to step over it to get into the house.  Not happening!

Decided maybe the fish were still biting. I let sleeping snakes lie.

You know how sometimes you feel like you're being watched.  Well, I had that feeling.  Then I noticed this peeping snake .  Actually, it's hunting but it gave me a weird feeling. 

It kinda creeped me out for a moment.

Then there was this occasion.  Once again I felt those eyes on me.  This time the snake was peeking out a weep hole.

One lovely day I was gardening when I looked up and there next to my face was this guy!    Slithering around in my shrub looking for a meal.

Gardening done!

Never ending yard work, right?  So here's a great reason to never leave a brush pile in your yard!  I did, once, and here's why you shouldn't.

See my friend relaxing?

Truthfully, neither of us was relaxed.  We kept an eye on each other.  Finally, I decided those branches could wait a little longer.

Here's an extreme closeup of the snake's scales.

This little snake stopped by while I was mowing the grass.  So I stopped to snap its picture.  

Here's a pic of another small snake found in my yard.

One of my serpent visitors was kind enough to leave this.    FYI: Shedding snakes can be testy because they can't see well.  So don't pick them up and try to peel them like a banana.  ;)

This was a bit of a surprise.  A complete skin shed by a snake who used the plants to help remove it.  You can see the eye hole clearly.  If you look very closely you can see that the end of the tail takes a left turn into the shrub branch.

FYI: That pot is nearly two feet across.  So if you do the math, you can figure the length of the snake.

Below is a real snake in the grass!  Can you find it?  Thankfully, those bright colors help.

That's why around here you have to watch your step!  Coral snakes are venomous have tiny mouths I'm told.

Just remember red and(touching) yellow kill a fellow.  Red and(touching) black throw him back. 

Home Invaders!

Thought I had a deal with these serpents.  They stayed outside and I stayed happy.  Well...I guess I misunderstood.

Here are three snake invaders.

Fortunately for the snakes,  my son got to them before the cat. 

Here's a little tip.  If your cat suddenly spends a lot of time staring under your stove or dryer, you may have a problem.  One of these sneaky serpents is probably hiding under there.

Snakes at the Front Door

My son found this rough earth-snake in the driveway.  As you can see, it was quite docile maybe stealing body heat?

The snake below wasn't so lucky.

This poor dead snake was found right outside my front door.  At first I thought it was playing possum, but it wasn't.  It had no obvious injuries. 

This (rat snake?) was found in my driveway.  Placed in a cat litter bucket for safe keeping until it could be released in a nearby field.

Road Snakes

These next few nature pictures with animals feature snakes in the road.  When you walk down the road around here, keep one eye on the traffic and the other eye on the critters!

I encountered this friendly serpent when I was walking.  As you can see, he's demanding the right of way, so I yielded.

This long, skinny snake was calmly crossing  ahead of me.  So I watched the traffic so it could safely cross.

I've become a crossing guard for snakes (and all animals) after seeing too many hit by cars.  This poor coral snake chose a bad time to cross.

This ominous-looking serpent was coiled up in the ditch along my favorite walking route.  I stopped to snap its picture but stayed far away!   Sorry, that's the best shot my Iphone could take from  a safe distance.

Safe for me that is!  If it had struck at or moved towards me, I would have had a heart attack, maybe. ;)

Nature Pictures with Animals: Alligators

Brazos Bend State Park is an excellent place to view alligators.  Unfortunately, the gators and the park's proximity to Houston means it's often very crowded.  But it's still worth a visit if you can get in.

You might want to visit the park website to secure a day pass.   That way you won't waste a trip.

Get that day pass so you can see alligators or be seen by alligators!  There are some great walking trails that lead to the gators favorite hangouts.

More pictures from  Brazos Bend State Park... alligator swimming, alligator crawling back to water and alligator lurking.

You may want to read this warning sign before your visit!   It's full of helpful tips, especially the one about dogs.

Gators seem to have a taste for small dogs.

Alligators are everywhere in this park, even on the barbeque pits!  So be careful.

You could come down to the San Bernard Wildlife Refuge or one of many others along the Texas Gulf coast to see alligators.

Like this alligator watching the cars pass.

I'm afraid this alligator has been fed by visitors.  He swam up to the observation area and looked at us expectantly.  It's tempting but don't feed them.  Bad for the gators and bad for your wallet if caught!

Here's a lazy gator sunning.  Look how wide its body is!

As you can see, this alligator was right up next to the walkway.  What you can't see is...

that it's got some babies with it.   It was quite a thrill but it could have been dangerous.  So I gave it a wide berth and went on my way.

This alligator was enjoying a flooded ditch when I drove up.  It was quite large and just feet from the car!

If you go looking for alligators, look carefully as you walk or drive by.  Sometimes they're difficult to see.  You don't want to miss a sighting.

And you don't want to get too close.  They can move fast when motivated. 

They will hiss at you as I found out.  I was walking in my neighborhood when one crawled out of the brush and crossed in front of me! 

It stopped and hissed.  I got the message!

Unfortunately, this one crossed the street in front of the wrong person.  I was walking when I found this poor fellow dead.  Some one shot him and cutoff his tail.

I hope you enjoyed these nature pictures with animals.