Waiting For Dinner © 2010 Colleen M. Griffith. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, modified, or redistributed in any way without written agreement with the creator. This image is registered with the US Copyright Office. www.colleenmgriffith.com www.facebook.com/colleen.griffith In honor of Halloween, I thought I would post another creepy spider shot. :D This is a photo I captured during one of my excursions to Mt. Diablo State park - seems spiders are everywhere on that mountain. Took this shot by hand, at dusk. I was surprised how close this spider let me get to him. You can see a collection of all my spider photos by going to www.colleenmgriffith.com/Galleries/Flora-and-Fauna/Spiders

Wild Pacific Coast Rattlesnake © 2010 Colleen M. Griffith. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, modified, or redistributed in any way without written agreement with the creator. This image is registered with the US Copyright Office. www.colleenmgriffith.com www.facebook.com/colleen.griffith This is a photo of a wild Pacific Coast Rattlesnake I found while hiking yesterday. I went back to Mount Diablo State Park to see if I could find and photograph more wild tarantulas and came across this mature, very large, rattlesnake sunning himself on the trail. What an exciting find! It had been a very cloudy (and relatively cool morning) and the sun was just starting to come out when I encountered this little guy. Rattlesnakes pick up vibrations through their body muscles which send sound through to their jaw bones and on to their inside ear parts. Rattlesnakes do not have outer ears and therefore rely on vibrations to pick up sound. They tend to not be very aggressive and will choose to flee from you if given the chance. When I got too close to this large rattler, he turned tail, and moved away very quickly - he didn't even pause to shake his rattle. Posted 20 September 2010. Best viewed in the largest size. You can see a collection of all my Wildlife photos by going to www.colleenmgriffith.com/Galleries/Flora-and-Fauna/Wildlife