wildlife

I ran into six of these on my recent five mile run. They are harmless animals and sort of fun because they dart away but usually stop after ten or so feet and resume foraging though the leaves on the ground.

I ran a few miles at the park before I went out on the canoe yesterday. I found a few fun animals out there.

The most exciting was an alligator.

There are approximately 60 alligators roaming around Huntsville State Park. The rangers claim that the alligators have never attacked any humans at this park. However, every year there are a couple dogs who are killed. The largest alligators at the park grow to be about 5-6 foot in length before they are removed from the park. I never saw the body of this gator but from the size of his head I would guess he is at least 5 feet.

I also was able to catch a really handsome owl hanging out in the tree.

He talked to me as I either spoke or hooted at him. Eventually he tired of me and flew to a tree nearby where he communicated with an owl that I wasn’t able to locate. I found other cranes and ducks but those two animals were the most exciting.

I got out to the Huntsville State Park to run a seven mile loop in the 90 degree heat with Phillip this evening. I went to my car to show him a Seat Shield so that he could see what would soon protect my car seat from the sweat that would saturate me. As I was showing him he excitedly pointed out a snake about three feet from us. I looked over and saw that it was a 4ish foot long rattlesnake!

It doesn’t take a genius in math to know that a 4 foot long venomous snake that’s within three feet of you is a danger. So I did what any irrational non-genius would do: I grabbed my cell phone to take some pictures!

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You can see him (I’ll use that gender for simplicity but I don’t actually know the snake’s gender) slivering along in this unwooded area about two feet from the pavement. At this point he was completely docile. I stepped out onto the grass to get a closer picture and he showed no signs of aggression. He was simply heading towards the shaded woods.

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Here is a picture that shows his rattler. At this point it wasn’t in action because he did not feel any threats. That was about to change.

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He’s coiled in this picture because my running friend tossed a stick onto him. Phillip wanted to hear what the rattle sounded like. Not something I’d recommend but interesting nevertheless. He rattled while he scurried a few feet to where he coil. Once he was coiled he no longer rattled.

This particular type of rattlesnake is commonly called the Timber Rattlesnake. The actual name is crotalus horridus. Wikipedia states that this type of snake is considered one of the most dangerous due to it’s size, the fang size, and it’s ability to quickly put a large amount of venom into it’s target. Thankfully they are very docile so they do not strike humans as often as other snakes.

It was neat watching him do his thing. I wouldn’t advise trying to aggravate one, aside from it being dangerous, it is unnecessary. I was in his habitat and he was not attacking me. Why attack an animal simply to experiment with one. Enjoy but do not disturb the awesome animals you find in nature!

It’s weird that something that can at once be so beautiful can also be so terrifying. I think most humans love fire — assuming it’s controlled. When you see something like what’s happening in California, it’s quite chilling. I know there are plenty of fellow runners in that area — my thoughts are certainly with you.

I was able to run the past couple of days. Yesterday, I went on a 5 mile run through the park and didn’t see anything. The only big setback was the humidity which was terrible. Today I ran with a friend and we saw a little family of boars (Scary) and a deer (not Scary). So I have been able to get a couple runs in this week.

I was out running in the park today on my normal path. I started in the opposite direction because the signs said that there was a burn going on. These are just controlled fires to clear out the undergrowth so that the heat and careless park guests don’t do it in an uncontrolled fashion.

When I came to the end, I figured that I would have to run through some areas where there had been burns. Little did I know that I would be surrounded by smoke and fire. Most of it was on one side of the trail, but I certainly was breathing in an unhealthy amount of smoke. Then I saw about three deers cross the street as they were escaping the burn.

I’ll blame the smoke on how weak my run was today.

Today I hit the trails again and found some that were actually dry! I only went about three miles, because I didn’t bring along a flashlight. I didn’t think it would be wise to get stuck out on unknown trails without light.

About one mile into the run, I came upon a creek where they still had deer hunting stands set up. This is a state park that allows deer hunting at certain times of the year to control the populations. About two hundred feet in front of me where two beautiful deers! I was so happy to see some actual wildlife on a run. That’s not something you see much of in Dallas.

Then on the drive home, I saw about five does out by the side of the highway. They weren’t scared by the cars but weren’t coming into the roads.

I wish I had brought my camera.