I found a queen snake in the grass a few minutes ago. On my way to turn on the watering hose at the wellhead, I looked down and there it was. Queen snakes don't get very large. A two-footer would (please excuse my silliness) be a king-sized queen. This one was about 18-inches long, still a good length for the species.
The snake was about midways across an open but shady portion of the yard beyond the deck and downstream of the cottage. As it said, when I spotted it, the queen snake was smack in the middle of the grass patch, maybe a foot from my foot. I think we were both momentarily startled. Not that queen snakes are in the least threatening. On the contrary, they are quite docile natured. But having spent plenty of time in various parts of the country where snakes can be a problem, and being—I thought—accustomed to always watching my step, it's a shameful oversight to allow any snake-in-the-grass to get the drop on me—a blunder made all the more mortifying by the fact that what grass there was was short, sparse, dry, and struggling to survive in the near-100˚F heat. Which was why I intended to do some watering. That snake couldn't have been any more visible on the middle of the kitchen table.
On the snake's part, I expect it was just hoping this large and obviously oblivious creature heading its way wouldn't trample it unintentionally.
The queen snake and I each remained calm. As I had my camera in hand (no, I don't water while toting my camera; I intended to place it out of harm's way atop the nearby picnic table) I made a shot, thinking I'd do a better job once I took care of that well valve. But when I got back, the snake was nowhere to be found. What I did find, however, about fifty feet away, was a second queen snake—this one no more than 6–8 inches long and the diameter of a pencil. A juvenile.
Queen snakes are aquatic, spending almost the entirety of their lives in or close-to water, where their primary food source is crayfish. Yes, the river was no more than 35 feet away from where I found the bigger snake, and perhaps 60–70 feet distant from the second, smallest one. Still that's well beyond the bank, on very dry ground, in an environment totally different than their usual hunting bailiwick. Which, of course, begs the question…why?
Two queen snakes in the yard, well away from water, is not coincidence but pattern. There's a reason I found them where I did. What is it? I have a theory—but I want to know. On the face of it, you might think such questions don't matter. Why care? Yet in the scheme of things, what does matter if not answers to such riddles? To not care is to find the message of earth and life—and ultimately, ourselves—inconsequential. Caring is what makes us human. Questions lead to answers, answers to knowledge, knowledge to understanding.
I care to understand…and understand to care.
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12 comments:
If people had not asked questions about the puzzles of nature Grizz, we would never have got anywhere would we?
Lucky you had the camera for it is a super photo.
Weaver…
Thank you re. the photo…and a BIG thank you on your comment—for both its content and also simply the fact you read the piece and responded. I'm afraid most folks are just too put off by the little queen snake—snakes not being the most popular nature subject.
You're right about questions—not just nature questions, but questions in general. Where would we be if someone hadn't wondered what lay beyond the horizon of that vast blue sea? Or beyond a line of high mountains? Answers to questions lie at the very core of life and society. So many good books—fiction and nonfiction alike—begin with "what if?' or "why not?" Mysteries revolve around questions.
The more I learn about even the most commonplace creatures around, the more questions I have…and the greater I realize my near-total ignorance.
That's a fine photo, Grizz, and I enjoyed your commentary. Yes, I agree that understanding leads to caring, which is often in short supply in our world, but I often question whether knowledge does, if fact, lead to understanding. From my vantage point in the world, it often seems that we have more knowledge than understanding. Theres an apt quotation here from T.S. Eliot: "Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowldege we have lost in information."
...I think they came up into the yard just because they like you, Grizz! Rick and I were on the Little Miami yesterday and a Queen snake was in the water about 6 feet from the canoe. She was just hanging in the water looking like a stick. We watched here and eventually she swam away. She was very pretty.
I have yet to see a snake on my property (I have lived here for 5 years), but used to see them a lot where I grew up. So I often wonder where the heck they all are. I've seen a few dead ones on the road, but that's it. So I guess I have my own snake questions. It's good to be curious about what happens around us. Too many people could care less, so some of us have to ask the questions.
George…
(Sorry to be slow in replying; see current post.)
I guess, in some respects, I share your doubts that knowledge inevitably leads to understanding. At best, knowledge, as evidenced by an accumulation of facts, is merely part of the equation. I long ago realized that facts and truth are two entirely different animals…and the same can be said for knowledge and understanding.
Real knowledge comes via a sort of synthesis of facts, experience, and a fundamental intuitiveness that—it seems likely—involves a sympathetic understanding of the subject; the whole, if you will, a synergy that can appear almost magic. To see this sort of knowledge at work is often to wonder how that person came to KNOW THAT on such a level. How did they learn at such depth? To me, that is genuine knowledge. And there is the point at which it begins to become true understanding.
That Eliot quote is smack on…information is not knowledge, and knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom rises above such limitations. It involves the heart as well as the mind—even the soul. Wisdom is a rare human grace.
Kelly…
(As I said to George, above—sorry to be slow in replying.)
Hey, I hope so—those lovely little queen snakes are certainly welcome here anytime. I'm glad your and Rick got to see one, too. I'll bet it was a pretty day on the river…I KNOW it was a pretty river!
Grace…
Snakes are sneaky, or at least generally shy and unobtrusive. But if you're seeing dead ones on the road, you can bet there are temporarily animate ones still slithering furtively nearby.
I've given up trying to understand how or why some people choose to go through life oblivious and uncurious to the questions—big and small—all around.
My thirst for answers has never slackened with age or maturity—if I have, in fact, matured, which I at least partially doubt.
I do realize the scope of the unknown is too great, to multi-layered to ever master even the smallest aspect. Questions and their answers always lead to more questions, ad infinitum…but for me, that just make the pathway all the more intriguing.
Questions beckon. Always. That's why I get up every morning.
Snakes are my least favorite thing, in the world, I think, Grizz!! Although I do like to photograph them as long as I 'see' them first!! lol
Your Queen snake might be equivalent to our Gartersnake, doesn't get too big and quite harmless, except to women...
Nature is amazing, and full of surprises, no matter how much we think we understand...
Bonifer…
For me, it's spiders…though only big ones, in the house; outside, and not on me, they're okay, and I like to photograph them in all their shapes and colors, along with their webs.
Snakes I don't mind, though I don't like to look down and see a rattler or copperhead close to my foot, or have a cottonmouth in the canoe with me. That gets a bit too close.
These queen snakes are nothing like those, however. Small, gentle, harmless. Very much like garter snakes, which we also have—but queens are more aquatic; true riverbank dwellers. They feed mostly on crayfish, and you seldom find one more than a few feet from the water. They live only around very clean streams, and as such, are a good water-quality indicator species. They're close kin to garter snakes, maybe slightly smaller on the average. I've written about and photographed "my" queens several times. Here's a link to a post I did this spring:
http://riverdaze.blogspot.com/2011/05/basking-queens.html
You probably wouldn't want them sunbathing on your deck rail, but I don't mind. To me they're a sure sign of spring's warming up.
I did check out your link, grizz, on the queen snake, awesome post,
thanks!! I don't mind spiders as much, again, one at a time and not on me...:)
Bonifer…
It is interesting that, even when we have some fear of something—as photographers, that fear can be put aside when faced through a lens. Glad you liked the queen snake pieces.
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