lampropeltis pyromelana
Sunday, May 8, 2022 — 1:15 pm
Hereford, Arizona — Beatty’s Guest Ranch
I stopped at Beatty’s in Miller Canyon on my way from Portal to Patagonia. After seeing the featured White-eared Hummingbird, I wandered up the canyon to photograph a Red-faced Warbler. On my way back to my car, I was crossing a cement culvert on an otherwise dirt road when I saw a snake heading from one side to the another. It saw me at about the same time and stopped.
It was probably close to three feet long, slender, and beautifully colored with red, black, and white bands. The square white nose is diagnostic.
I stepped in front of it once to get it to stop so I could take more photos — it was headed steadily for the other side of the road — but didn’t bother it for more than a minute before it disappeared in the grass along the culvert.
When I showed a photo of it to the guide who took me owling on Monday, he was jealous. In all his years of wandering about outside in Arizona, he’d only seen two and never one this sharp and clean looking.