Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Common Bronzeback Tree Snake


Some one recently asked me if I had stopped posting on this blog (How could I!) and it is then that I realised that I had not posted here for quite sometime. So, as I was contemplating what to do about this blog post drought, the answer came slithering into our garden.
Aarina (wife) is sharp at locating snakes- she may miss a vulture, but I don't think a snake can escape her eyes. She loves snakes and has spent quite some time with a few of them. Today was one such day, when she pointed out this beautiful Bronzeback Tree Snake ( Dendrelaphis tristis), loitering (seemingly aimlessly) in our garden. Fast slender movements, interspersed with a graceful dance that reminded me of some disco moves of the 80's.
A non-venomous snake this bronzeback lives in trees and bushes. The snake feeds on frogs, lizards and baby birds and we spotted it quite effortlessly climb a vertical wall and then a tree.
The snake has a Latin name of 'tristis' which in Latin means  "sad" or "foul smelling"- I wonder why? The snake had cute (Bambi like?) eyes and  white underside. If you closely look at the eyes, you can spot a indistinct black streak too. The snake seemed quite unruffled by our presence and we had a pleasurable time watching his rare appearance.


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