[NatureNS] Snakes in the woodpile and swallows in the sky

From: "Flora Cordis Johnson" <herself@wildflora.com>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 19:05:33 -0300
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Dear Dave (and others),
I was very pleased to find a snake living under my woodpile recently also.
At least 2 feet long, this was the largest snake I have ever seen although I
realize that the local snakes can get bigger than that. Unfortunately I
don't recall the markings; at the time I assumed it was a garter snake. More
recently I startled another large snake (could it be the same one?) sunning
itself next to a dis-used greenhouse a good hundred hards from the woodpile.
We see small snakes flattened on the road here in the summer, but it is
interesting to me to note that I have never seen a large one killed on the
road. Perhaps the crows like to eat the bigger ones, thus removing the
carcasses before I see them, but I prefer to think that the older snakes are
too smart to bask on the warm asphalt as the small ones do.
   In other nature notes, I was thrilled to go out early today and see a
large number of swallows around my house. There were five young barn
swallows on the telephone wires right in front of my house, being fed by two
parents. Further down the way, also on the telephone wires, was a flock of
at least 14 tree swallows. They appeared to be a mixture of small and large
(adults and young ones?) but I saw no feeding going on. The swallows seem to
be congregating around my house, possibly because I have a large pond out
back and plenty of insects to eat. It seems so late in the season for the
barn swallows to be feeding young. Is this the usual pattern?
Wild Flora in Birch Hill (Stewiacke Valley, Central NS)

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