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I keep seeing these birds recently. This is one in particular that I saw. ID suggested by friends that I consulted. It flew off too quickly to get a photo, but I sketched what I remembered on my phone immediately after I saw it.

Dark-brownish-grayish bird with a rusty-colored belly, a yellow beak, and some light gray streaks around the ends of the wings.

Look at how he takes up an entire lane! That thing had to be pushing 1.8 or 1.9 meters and still was hardly as big around as my finger.

That first picture was later stolen off of my website and turned into numerous memes, many of which were shared tens of thousands of times. It then was taken by a software company for use in a viral ad campaign that was very successful. Finally, I was contacted by a board game company asking my permission to use the picture in their meme-based board game, which was the first I had known that people on Twitter and Instagram were using the photograph with abandon. I mean....he WAS a very photogenic snake, and I'm all for sharing pictures, but it feels dirty for people to just grab something off of someone else's page on the web and then profit off of it, especially the shady profits that come from viral advertising.

https://bangkokherps.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/long-nosed-whip-snake/

This is an interesting story with a happy ending. My friend David Ferry and I were driving along Hwy 87 at 60 mph near Crystal Beach, Texas, when I glimpsed what I thought was a Least Bittern standing on the very edge of the road with cars whizzing past. I made a U turn and went back where we indeed found a Least Bittern, resting back on its tarsus joints within inches of passing traffic. I picked up the bird and we stood on the side of the road to examine it. My best guess is that (1) it took a glancing blow off a car windshield, perhaps, or (2) It was totally exhausted from migrating across the Gulf of Mexico. It did not seem to be badly injured and its wings did not seem to be broken. Rather than just leave it here on the road to be crushed and killed I decided we would take it to a nearby marsh area off the roadway where it could die in peace and dignity. So we drove off with Dave holding the bird in his lap and heading to a marsh well off the road where I know Least Bitterns were present. We put the bird down on the edge of the marsh and it just stood there looking at us. I was about to just drive away and let nature take its course, but decided to take a few more shots of the bird. I got down low to the bird's level and it went into the characteristic bittern pose by stretching its neck high and trying to look like a swaying bit of marsh grass. It kept a watchful eye on me from both sides of its raised bill and image 1 shows this action. The bird then started slowly walking away from us. I bent down to take another shot and the bittern took flight and flew out into the marsh and out of sight. I choose to believe it recovered and is doing well.

near Crystal Beach,
Galveston Co., Texas
26 April 2018