They cling to power lines and cause power outages. Hide out in the landing gear of planes (apparently able to withstand -40 temps) and if you're not careful, you'll trip over a pile of them when you get off the plane. And there are no birds, the snakes ate them all.

Well, that's the myth anyway.

Before I came here, can't believe it's been 7 years almost, I heard about the brown tree snake from some decade old website that was probably pretty exaggerated, even when it was written.

No birds? Think again. Off to the car wash!

Anyway, I've seen two since I been here in 2004. One was dead on the road, the other was coiled around a water faucet thing where I used to wash my car. He was tiny and more green than brown.

The facts are that brown tree snakes have done a lot of damage to Guam's bird population over the years. So much, that there was very few, if any birds, even when I got here. Still, even on my hikes through the jungle I never saw a snake. Both the local and U.S. governments have done a excellent job eradicating them. Snake sniffing dogs are at the airport to prevent the snakes introduction to other islands.

So, when i returned to Guam from a couple days on the Island of Saipan this morning, the idea for this post slapped me right in the face.