The Great Impostor!

Great Basin gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer deserticola) impersonating a rattler. This non-venomous constrictor, when it feels threatened, will flatten its head, swell its body, and thrash its tail in the brush to make rattling noises. It imitates a rattlesnake convincingly enough that lots of them get themselves killed! McConnell Creek trail, Santa Rosa Mountains, in extreme northern Nevada. Ironically, not 20 feet farther up the trail a _real_ rattlesnake was sunning itself. It skedaddled promptly, slithering into the rocks fast enough I got no picture.