Rattlesnakes den up in the Winter. I wonder if these pics. were taken as they were emerging from their dens in the Spring.
BTW: Any "expert" will tell you there's nothing to fear in January/February in Arizona as the Rattlers are hibernating. Except no one apparentely told the one I had a confrontation with down in the Eloy area in February a few years ago that he was supposed to be hibernating.
Jim

The 2nd Amendment IS an unalienable right.