Nice report, Phil. I find (or don't find) lots of evidence of lots of animals under a.c., especially if crayfish holes are present. I would imagine many hatchlings use them to keep from dessicating and to overwinter. Also an abundant food supply is near at scale so to speak. I have found broad banded water snakes in the same a.c. as the specks, and I know what will happen if that speck is hungry, but maybe a symbiotic relationship is plausible between some animals? What if the rat snake set off an "alarm" to your presence that the nigra felt compelled to investigate? He lacked the details to make a fight or flight response so he came up for a look. Sounds out there but I can kinda see where Frank may be going with this. Or maybe rat snake wasn't on the menu tonight and the rat snake knew it? Let's wrap our minds around that! As always, great field report with pics! I will be studying the Aransas Wildlife Refuge this fall/winter, as it is near my specks. Good reads: Guidebook to the Aransas NWR and A Naturalists Guide : Aransas by Wayne and Martha McAlister. Should find some great stuff.

Todd Hughes

[ Show Entire Thread ]