First Copperhead on the Loyd Place

Disclaimer: If you've been reading about our

copperhead experience on Facebook, you won't

find any new photos here.  I've consolidated the

pictures and one video here, along with some

explanatory comments.

The story begins.

Last Friday, about 4:00, Jennifer was picking

up her kids at our house.  We had played all

over the property with Claire and Evan, including

in the garage.  After they were buckled in their

seats, Jennifer, Judy, and I were still chatting in

the driveway, when we noticed that Kitty Cat

was in attack mode in front of the garage.  We

assumed the target was a lizard.  But when I saw

him repeatedly attack, then leap back, I knew he

had found a prey that was fighting back.  When I

approached I heard a tell-tale vibrating in the leaves.

No, it wasn't a rattlesnake.  But I knew of two snakes

that mimic that sound to scare away predators (or

sometimes to lure their own prey closer).  It was

either a black rat snake (my favorite) or a copperhead

(beautiful but deadly).  When I saw the distinctive

pattern on its back, I immediately knew it was the 

latter.  I had to frighten Kitty Cat away, and was 

just hoping he had not already been struck by the

lunging pit viper.  I strode to my tool shed and 

grabbed a shovel.  The cooperative copperhead

had stayed put.  I plunged the shovel into his body

about one-third the distance back from his head.

He was pinned to the ground and couldn't get away,

but he wasn't yet dead.  With my family still a safe

distance away, I went for my limb loppers.  My 

captive couldn't escape as I clamped the loppers

just inches behind his head.  He still wasn't dead.

At this point I did another power plunge with

the shovel and severed the body.  I knew the

head could still bite and kept a safe distance.

The jaws were actively opening and closing and

the fangs awaited an opportunity to deliver their

toxic dose.  He never got the chance.  I read that

most copperhead bites occur when attempts are

made to kill or capture.  Normally, I am reluctant

to kill most forms of wildlife (notable exceptions:

ants, moles, mice, roaches, mosquitoes, and flies).

I realize that all God's creatures play their part in

the complex web of nature.  But to the extent possible,

I'm determined to keep our environment safe for me,

Judy, Kitty Cat, and most of all, the grandchildren.

Within ten minutes after Jennifer and the children

had departed, I had dug a shallow grave and deposited

the still-writhing reptile in it.  Video is included at the

end of this blog.

This is the severed front end of the copperhead.
He could and would still bite at this stage, even
without use of his better half (so to speak).

Here's the rest of his body.  I estimated the length
at 28 to 30 inches.  Typical adult copperheads can
be about three feet.  

I reassembled him purely for your viewing pleasure.
A taxidermist I'm not (biology lab convinced me I wasn't
 enough of a perfectionist to pursue a surgical career).

This closeup of the head shows the distinctive color
which gives it its name.  That copper is a different
shade than the various hues of tan and brown that
make up the impressive camouflage bands.

This video shows that my victim did not

go quietly to his grave.  His Latin nomenclature

is Agkistrodon Contortrix.  While an article said

that contortrix refers to his twisted pattern, my

video (which might give my more squeamish

friends nightmares) suggests the contortions of

his death throes would make it an apt name.

By strange coincidence, I was wearing the snakes

of the world shirt pictured below on that day. If

brave Kitty Cat had not detected our visitor, at great

peril to himself, the copperhead would likely still be

a potential threat.  There may be more, but it was the

first poisonous snake we've seen ON our property in

35 years here.  So with this scary episode over, we

will proceed with caution.  Our property supplies many

of the ingredients of perfect copperhead habitat: 

compost pile, woodpiles, leaves, small rodents and 

birds, and old rotting stumps.  

I hope you enjoyed my latest snake stories.

I don't suppose I'll ever run out of them.

Snakes seem to be attracted to me.

The Eno River: A new hiking venue for the Loyds

The first chance we got in April, Judy and I

headed off to Eno River State Park, just west

of Durham.  We took a beautiful scenic route

on backroads from Chapel Hill and never

encountered any traffic.  Let's take a tour.

The amazing number of turtles sunning themselves
was the first thing we noticed.

The trail we hiked before lunch was fairly level and
suitable for all ages.  It basically followed the river.

A turtle closeup.  Typically, we'd see several, but by
the time I could get close enough for a picture only
a couple remained.

We observed a lot of interesting natural
formations.  "X" marks the spot!

You don't see too many rapids on piedmont rivers,
but this made us feel like we were in the mountains.

I haven't identified this lovely plant yet, but it
was quite prolific.

Note the little "fiddletops" of these newly
emerging Christmas ferns.

This is a troll hole 'fer shur.'

I think Gandalf may have turned some evil
creature into this odd formation.

The black rat snake is the first of two
nice specimens we spotted that day.  Judy
saw both of them first.

I thought this view of solitary violets blooming on
this ancient log was picturesque. (FIRST time using
that word on this blog!)

These parallel fallen saplings would have
been a tempting footbridge for some folks.
Not me, not today!

Ducks or geese, you tell me.

Hmm.  All kinds of possibilities here!

Is this the way deer mark trees?

Our second snake was a beauty of a King Snake.

Not only did this turtle wait for me, he
appears to be waving!

A favorite woodland plant of mine, running
ground cedar (or ground pine).

The William Few that this historic ford was named
after ended up in Georgia and was a signer of the
U.S. constitution (right next to Abraham Baldwin, Caryn)!

One of the few places the trail rose was for the
express purpose of viewing these rapids, the most
impressive on the entire Eno.

The turtles definitely preferred the more placid spots.

I finally got around to identifying these papery leaves
as beech.  I had observed it from here to Georgia
all along the interstate and in neighborhoods last winter.

I wish we had this tree on our SFL Nature Trail.
We have a Slingshot Tree.  This could be "L'il
Slingshot Tree.

This bridge would have led to many more miles of
trails we didn't have time or energy for that day.
But we plan to visit this park in the future.

Our return hike led us down, down, down . . .

. . . and up, up, up!

It was worth the steep climb to see this view.

In fact, everything we saw at the Eno River

State Park impressed us.  We'd like to see it

at different seasons and experiment with

different trails.  It's just a little over 90 minutes

from our house and well worth the trip.

Let me know if you want to know the shortcut,

but there's no need to go through Durham's traffic.

Cub Scouts "Brush Up" the SFL Nature Trail

In the last week, Cub Scout Pack 582 of 

Farm Life School set about to earn their

World Conservation Badges by laboring to

improve the school nature trail.

It began with a tour of the trail at their

Monday night meeting to evaluate the

existing needs on the trail.  The meeting

started with the flag raising.  The flag

would be at half staff in memory of recent 

bombing victims in Boston.

The scouts and leaders identified several

possible projects with the input of Mr. Loyd (me).

Perhaps the most challenging of all was to

try to straighten "Old Man Poplar."  Oh well.

What a fine looking bunch of young men.

By the end of the evening they were pumped by

 about working on the trail the following Saturday.

On Saturday, one project was to replace wood

 chips that recent downpours had washed away.

For safety reasons, only adults helped

load these concrete and iron fence poles

that had been dumped in the woods years

earlier.  Later, they would be taken to the landfill.

One of the dads is a civil engineer.

He helped design a makeshift dam

to slow the flow of rain water over

one of our problem areas.

A real plus of this project is that

we utilized old brick and concrete

rubble that had been dumped on

the trail decades ago, perhaps when

an existing building was demolished.

Through steady work by many

willing hands, our retaining wall

took shape.  Using existing materials

in a productive way will serve as a

constant reminder of the environmentally 

sound practicere-using rather

than adding to the landfill.

During a well-earned break the

scouts crossed the stream and posed

on Big Rock.  This was a reward for

showing up on the work day, because

typically school groups don't get this

opportunity-- too much risk of falling in!

This log and the sandbar were

our crossing point.  The log is

not very reliable-- it's the last

remnant of a mammoth tree that

fell two decades ago.

Back at work, the scouts manned

several hedge clippers to attack the

invasive kudzu that is encroaching

on the trail.

The trail looks as good as new

with wood chips raked back in place.

Here's a pile of kudzu vines

that were wrestled down and

piled near the trail. This is a 

major defeat for the evil kudzu,

but it will be back!

Here are some of the faithful

laborers as our work time drew

to an end.  Several others had

served for at least part of the morning,

but family plans kept us from having

all boys together at any given time.

With work done, the scouts and

families relaxed and enjoyed the

trail a little bit more.  They would

have a picnic lunch at the adjacent

ball field.

A huge "Thank You" goes

out to all the scouts, leaders,

and parents who gave up their

Saturday for this project.  I have

conferred the title of "Keepers of

the Nature Trail" upon every scout

who contributed to the effort.  They

are quite deserving of the World

Conservation Badge and I hope they

achieve this goal.

Now is a wonderful time to enjoy 

the trail with your own family.  Here

are some things you can expect to see.

White Oak

Black Oak

Sugar Maple
(Red Maple is also on the trail)

Poison Ivy!!!

Lady Fern

Netted Chain Fern

Royal Fern

Cinnamon Fern

Jack-in-the-Pulpit
(near the stream)

Jack-in-the-Pulpit
(newly discovered patch near
the trail's beginning)

Green and Gold, a wildflower

Sweetgum, a tree

Seed balls of a sweetgum tree
These are commonplace on our trail.

Your trail is open for business.

Stop by anytime, and bring a

friend or your whole family.

More improvements are in the

works for the coming year.