April 18th, 2006
first snake of the season
On Sunday, while taking a siesta alongside Black Creek, our collie, Sabrina, spotted the first snake of the season — an Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis). Sabrina, ever the long-suffering photographer’s companion, often spots things for me when we’re out hiking. If she finds a frog, a snake, or any other object which she deems worthy of examination, she hovers over it while waiting for me to take notice. As soon as I walk over with my camera, she backs off and lies down somewhere nearby (see below). If I take too long shooting photos — for example, shooting many photos of a spider — she’ll make small noises that are, without a doubt, the canine version of impatient sighs, yawns and moans. If she’s really getting bugged, she has a “hurry-up” grumble which can’t be mistaken for anything else.
Anyhow, back to the snake. It was found in an area of jumbled piles of rock, so possibly there was a hibernaculum nearby. It seemed quite active and moved swiftly along over some fallen trees and a couple of rock piles. Its length was about 45 cm. (18 inches).
