I came across this Southern Pacific Rattlesnake one day while out hiking. It was warming itself in the late morning on a fresh spring day, literally sprawled out full length across the trail.. Not an expert in rattlesnakes, I have to assume this particular one was just coming out of winter dormancy as it’s demeanor was very passive and nonchalant. It didn’t know I was there -or didn’t care- until I had the zoom lens at minimum focusing distance. Rattlesnakes primarily use their tongues for smelling and the pits on their noses for detecting heat. As far as I know, they don’t have very good eyesight overall; being primarily useful for detecting quick movements such as those of a mouse. So perhaps it was because of these things that this one had a hard time detecting me. I was moving very slow and was upwind. Maybe this explains why people get bit by rattlesnakes mostly by stepping on them first. They mainly just want to be left alone and are generally very docile animals. Once this one detected my presence, it retreated into the brush, signaling it’s displeasure with my disruption of it’s morning through it’s rattle buzzing away. The shot was captured with a Canon EF 70mm-300mm F/4.0-5.6 IS zoom lens, at minimum focusing distance.

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