Sometimes it is just bizarre how close the good things are situated to the sad moments. Yesterday I found for the first time a Milk Snake here up on the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa River. I’m always happy if I discover a new species that has its habitat in the woods around our house and if you followed my blog since a while you know that I get excited about it. The snake was laying on the road just in front of our driveway. Pretty soon I found out that it was dead. There is probably nobody to blame ( I really hate the thought that somebody drove over it on purpose!). Our road is a private loop and not very busy. The survival chance if a critter crosses the road is probably a lot higher than at any other public road. There was no visible injury, but if somebody accidentally drove over it it probably would have killed the Milk Snake.
I was hesitating if I should post this image. It’s not really wildlife anymore but at the other hand my blog is also about documenting what happens in our environment and how human intervention influences the nature here in Eastern Iowa. I placed the snake on some of the rocks we have here and made the click. Oh no, I’m not proud, I’m just dealing with a sad reality and I pay my tribute to a critter that deserves a much better display than this...