Week Two of Summer Camp is Done

The week started with clouds and drizzle, but ended with uncomfortable heat. I had another group of kids in the same age range as last week (10 to 12 years old), and did most of the same things, although I was on the non-overnight schedule, which meant I didn't lead a night hike or sleep overnight on the field.

Speaking of the field, it looks like Rattlesnakes have decided the drainage grate at the edge of the field (around 30 feet away from where the kids sleep)is a good place to den. A counselor in one of the other groups said that one had been spotted, and when I went down to look, I found two. I managed to catch one - it was around 3 feet long and a dull gray/black color, had milky eyes signifying that it was getting ready to shed, and sported a rattle that had been partially broken off at some point. I ended up moving it down into the adjacent meadow, at the extreme far end under a big Live Oak tree, not really too far from where I caught it. In a way, this was an experiment to see if it would find its way back to where I had initially caught it. I figured such a distinctive looking individual would be easy to I.D. the second time it appeared. Sure enough, a couple of days later there was a Rattlesnake in the same spot, and after a bigger struggle than usual (the snake kept ducking into the Coyote Brush), I managed to catch it. It had the same broken rattle, but had managed to shed its skin during the intervening couple of days. This time, I released it much farther away from camp. I plan on checking that area every day, since there's still the other snake that I didn't catch.

On the night hike, one of the other leaders says that he stepped on a snake, very possibly a Rattlesnake, at the other end of the field. Fortunately, it didn't strike and nobody was harmed. That said, despite these instances, we've been seeing fewer Rattlesnakes than usual. Not as many Yellowjackets yet either.

My favorite critter-related moment of the week was when I took some kids out on a short hike and we caught a couple of cicadas. The first one was caught by me, and the second one was found and caught by one of the kids. Both continued to sing their little cicada songs while being handled and passed from hand to hand.