Western Diamondback Rattlesnake - 2017

The western diamondback rattlesnake is found in southeastern California, extreme southeastern Nevada, southern and much of western Arizona, much of New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, and part of Arkansas and a sliver of southern Kansas. It also extends deep into the non-mountainous parts of Mexico. 

Western diamondback rattlesnake

I'd seen four of them previously, all in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona. In early April I added a fifth sighting, also in OPCNM, but in a new location, the Senita Basin. I was driving a dirt road into the Senita Basin in late afternoon, about 3:30 p.m. and a temperature of about 90 degrees. The snake was crossing the road. I stopped the car and got out for some pictures, as did two men behind me in a truck I'd just passed. 

This snake did not exhibit the extreme aggressiveness I've seen in three of the four previous sightings. No matter how many times I've seen rattlesnakes, it is still a thrill to see them. 

The snake slithered into a bush off the side of the road and curled up in a defensive posture. There it was virtually impossible to see.