Timber rattlesnakes were up at two of the dens I visited yesterday, 10 at
one den and 1 at another. the vanguard. No snake was more than twenty feet
from either of the main portals, which suggests they very likely began to
emerge this past weekend. Nights are much too cool (cold) for dispersal.
This is a full two weeks early than last year. I arrived at the first den
at noon with five snakes out and when I left at three o'clock four others
had emerged, including one exceptionally large male stretched across the
foyer, head in the sunlight and tail in the cool shade. All but one of the
snakes were adults; the other an immature.

Dutchman's breeches and rock saxifrage were in peak bloom, flowering on and
between the talus. Elderberry was in leaf and flower buds expanding, but no
where near open. Winter wrens were singing: hermit thrushes foraging. I had
my first osprey of the year, an immature bald eagle, and nesting peregrines
and ravens were seemingly everywhere noisy. Oh, and one garter snake up and
about in the woods.


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