Shot from the car on the road out of the Berkeley Marina: It looks like a northern Pacific rattlesnake — very much like the one I photographed during a bike ride last year). A good-sized snake, too: about 30 inches. But: no rattle. After some reading (here and here), my non-expert opinion is that this is actually a gopher snake.
I drove past it, then backed up to take a look. It was right in the middle of the lane, and I thought about doing a Steve Irwin and picking it up and getting it off the road. But I didn’t. When a car came up behind me, I pointed down at the snake and pulled forward. The driver slowed, then went around the snake. I’ll be surprised if I don’t see it squished flat the next time I’m out there, though.
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