I'm calling this "The Curse of the Short-tail". It is like that snake sucked up all of the luck for finding and photographing other snakes.
I've been hunting Heterodon for the past few weeks, and unfortunately I don't have any photos of them to share. A few members on this board were very generous in helping me, so Friday morning and this morning (Saturday) I woke up bright and early at 6:30am and tried a few new areas. Of course, I have almost nothing to share.
Today in particular was rather bad. The first thing I saw was this.
Another 45 minutes passed with nothing, and then this little guy.
And then 2 hours of nothing, when I saw a little dark snake with perhaps a stripe dart off the road before I could photograph it. The Curse of the Short-tail strike one.
Another 30 minutes or so of nothing. As I was about to give up and head home, I almost ran over a bear. A mamma bear and 2 cubs bolted out in front of me. I was doing maybe 25 mph. A third cub, farther behind mom and its siblings, ran up to the road, and then did an abrubt 180, which is a good thing because it might have met my car otherwise. I stopped, backed up, and turned off the car. I could hear the baby calling to its mom. I thought I recorded it, at least the audio, but The Curse of the Short-Tail stuck again and I have no evidence of this occurrence. I thought, okay, well, the mom and the baby are going to reunite at some point. So I turned off the car and sat, and sat. I could hear the baby calling, and then everything went silent. I had my camera poised, and then in a flash the baby darted across the road, apparently faster than my trigger finger. The Curse of the Short-tail strikes for a 3rd time!
I was tired, it was growing warm, the prospects of finding Heterdon was dwindling, so I started to head home. Not 5 minutes after hitting pavement a 2-3 ft coachwhip darted off the road. Of course, no photo of this either. Curse of the Short-tail stike four.
It was pavement all of the way back. I did find a DOR Pygmy Rattler, so I knew live ones may be around. About 30 minutes later, sure enough, I roll up on a beautiful Pygmy Rattler just sitting in the road. I throw the car into park, hop out and before I can even fire off a shot it darts for under my car! I ran to the other side of my car thinking it would come out over there, but no snake! I looked under the car, around in the grass, and nothing. It just vanished! Curse of the Short-tail strike 5!
I have never had so many amazing photo opportunities fail so miserably in one trip. I mean, the hatching tortoise is cute, but for being out and about from about 7am until 1pm, this is absolutely terrible.
Lastly, despite seeing this same hawk half a dozen times, this is the best pic I could get of it. Is this the Curse of the Short-tail or just a hawk that likes messing with photographers?
Better luck next time eh? If you think you can break the Curse of the Short-tail, PM me and I'll ride along with you next weekend, paying my fair share of transportation costs. I would look forward to anybody who takes on the challenge at least partly because my little Civic doesn't seem to handle soft sandy roads with much grace.
Worst Trip Report Ever
Moderator: Scott Waters