For those of us that hike in the desert, we spend a good amount of time scanning the ground as we move forward (or we should be). And as I rounded the blind corner, my eyes went directly to the black and white stripes near the tail. I honestly don’t know if this is true for others when they come across a Western Diamondback. But those stripes are what my eyes pick up right away. And I’m grateful for it. Even though, it doesn’t mean my heart doesn’t skip a beat!
And of course, the words that came out of my mouth are “Aaaah, Shit!” I don’t know why. I was by myself and have seen plenty of rattlesnakes. But nevertheless, out they came!
And this guy (or gal) has been around a while, based on the number of rattles. There was no “rattling”. He’s seen us human animals before. So after about a minute of staring at each other, he (or she) made the way to some shelter, just in case.
Arizona Diamondback Rattlesnake
In general, this is how most of the encounters go (but I have had some scary ones!). And we both went on our way (after I stalked it for a bit).
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