Another New Species

I always get excited when a new species appears in my yard especially one as interesting as this. There are several different sub-species of Kingsnakes, so named for their ability to kill and eat other snakes, including venomous ones. Our yard happens to fall right on the boundary where the sub-species changes from the California Kingsnake to the Desert Kingsnake and this individual shows characteristics of both. This is not unusual were the range of the two sub-species meet. This particular individual was just slithering out of our pool having taken a cooling dip when I managed to catch a photo.