steve_hancock's Favorites

Possibly the same individual seen on 15 Aug 2024.

EDIT: Yes, it is the same.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/235992397
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/235872786
Second photo showing head markings, taken six hours later in the same tree.

• Head-pattern

• Head-pattern

Previous observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/221486684 (9 Jun 2024)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/221259027 (8 Jun 2024)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/187904438 (17 Oct 2023) https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/170057973 (29 Jun 2023)

• Head-pattern
• Tail-tip

It appears that this snake, as well as at least one other larger python, has been staking out a fruiting Queen Palm (Syagrus romanzoffianum,) which has been attracting flying foxes and probably other mammals. This individual is fairly small, about 1 – 1.5m long. One identifying feature is the truncated tail-tip. (I don’t think I’ve seen it before… at least, not since the injury to the tail.)

Photographed in different positions in the same tree, over a 2.5 hour period.

In photo #2 the snake is being attacked by a Butcher Bird, which is the indistinct flurry of feathers, top right.

I would estimate this snake to be between 8 and 9 feet long. If its recent meal was a possum, it must have been a big one. Or could it have been two?… or a bettong?
Judging by the creases on the scales in the distended section of its body, I would say the snake is about to shed its skin.
Edit: I was able to get a more accurate assessment of its length later in the afternoon, when it had finished its siesta, and stretched out - 2.45 metres (8 feet.)

• Head-pattern

Crossing Biscoff Mill Road, near the windmill, west to east.
A beautiful honey & brown colouration which I haven't previously observed around Watsonville.
Length: 2.5 - 3 metres.
CORRECTION: I have seen one other with a similar colouration - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193198838

• Head-pattern

Head markings indicate that this is the same snake observed on 20 Dec 2023, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/194515996, and 22 Dec 2023, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/198443326. On both previous occasions it was lying in wait on the lawn outside the house. Tonight it was in the house (and judging by the bulge in its belly the next morning, it found what it was looking for.)

• Faved for head-pattern comparison.