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| Our first meeting, I'm taking the photograph from far away! |
It was an ordinary day, I was returning home as usual after work at early evening. The whole route went without any problems. It was just a regular ride home when suddenly I came across to an unexpected situation.
There it was in front of me, the dead body of a big snake, just lying there, headless with a big rock in the side.
When I noticed it at first I startled a little bit as I didn't know if it was alive or not. As you can see I took a photograph from some distance as I was afraid. After doing that, I quickly grabbed my bicycle and continue my journey. It was much later at the safeness of my living room, while sitting in the sofa, that I remember to take out my cell-phone and start to observe the picture (and the snake itself) with more detail.
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| Zoomed in, to see the head better. |
The head had been cut off indeed as I noticed at first sight before, although I do not believe it was done with the rock. The cut edges indicate that the head was bitten and pulled. This immediately makes me think that maybe the shepherd's dog had something to do with it, as the snake was find in its lair.
The next day, when I passed again from that spot, the corpse of the snake was vanished. The clock was ticking so I didn't have the time to stop and look around if someone had move it. I just continue my ride and forgot the whole thing.
Another week passed, and I came across the snake's corpse once again! It was the same snake by no doubt. Except being headless, it had the exact same color patches as the previous one, which means only that it was indeed the same snake.
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| Our second meeting! No rock found anywhere around this time! |
This time I wasn't afraid any more, so I left my bicycle at the side of the road, pulled out my cell-phone (to take another picture) and stood over the snake to examine it.
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| Again, zoomed in. |
It was a big snake, not so much by length, but more by width. I searched the web taking into account the characteristics of the snake, the photographs and also the fact that the area there is filled with almond trees and olive trees, but I didn't found what type of snake it was.
What it seemed odd though, was the fact that it was still there. Makes me wonder, who moved it in the first place and why did he placed it back on the road after one week. The first time I thought that maybe the garbage man might had picked it up and threw it away, but now, after seeing it again I was thinking that the dog must had been playing with it.
This was the first time that I had come across a snake in real life.
I have seen many type of snakes in zoos but never when riding my bicycle home!
It was something different. It left me with mixed feelings as I felt bad for the poor creature, but nature has its rules, and the snake was the dog's victim. Nothing we can do about it, this is how it works. The strongest takes out the weakest. But still...
Anyway, who knows what will I come across tomorrow? Riding a bicycle in rural areas has its surprises!
Have you ever bumped into an unusual animal of any kind while riding your bicycle? How did you felt?
Riding home in the quiet, very early morning hours after work gives me a lot of opportunities to see wildlife -- even in a small city. I know where to look out for skunks, raccoons, and deer. One time, just beyond the range of my headlight, I saw a black blob, moving onto the road. It was a big porcupine! And cats' eyes light up brightly from far away. No wonder some cultures believe they have special powers.
ReplyDeleteHere's a snake story: One afternoon, on a quiet back road through the woods on the way to work, I rode through a construction zone while the road crew injected a black substance into the pavement cracks. I know this road well, with its light gray surface, patched potholes, and street lights few and far between.
Ten hours later, I'm on that road again. It's pitch black, on that moonless night. I had shut my headlight off, because, well, it's eerie; fun! A minute later, I detect headlights in the distance, so I turn my headlight back on.
OMG! I'm surrounded by big, black snakes, all over the road! A second later, I remember the afternoon road crew work, and my heart began its return to normal.