Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: hibernaculum

Thanks, David, for letting this Wandering Garter Snake slither along the sleeve of your jacket to give me yet another photo opportunity! Taken while we were monitoring snakes locally. I photograph - my friends monitor, LOL! 50 snakes, both Red-sided Garter Snakes and Wandering Garter Snakes, were recorded, measured and then released. Most of these 50 snakes had collected inside two snake traps and only a handful were actually slithering down the hibernaculum hill.

This was just one really tiny Wandering Garter Snake that we found, measured, recorded and released two weeks ago, when we did our Snake Monitoring in Fish Creek Park. By the way, not MY hand, LOL!

I liked the vartiety of lichens growing on this small branch that is growing in the Hibernaculum in Fish Creek Park. We recorded about 104 Garter Snakes yesterday in roughly two hours; almost all were male Wandering Garter Snakes.

LOL, we recorded about 105 Garter Snakes on Monday in roughly a two-hour period. Unfortunately, they were almost all at the top of a small hill, and I found the crumbling climb just too risky. So, this was the only photo I was able to take, of a Red-sided Garter Snake that was found at the bottom of the hill - and I'm going to post it, even though I think I would normally delete it! Hope I get somewhat better luck next time! Just about all the snakes were male Wandering Garter Snakes.

Thought I had "better" post a couple of photos of things out in the wild, to give you all a break from my Zoo photos : ) This is a Wandering Garter Snake, seen down at Shannon Terrace, Fish Creek Park. They tend to blend in really well with their leafy surroundings.

This Red-sided Garter Snake was the only one that "cooperated" yesterday on our Snake Monitoring session. Usually, after they have been measured, recorded and released on the far side of the metal fence in the hibernaculum, they slither away at top speed. This one stayed right where it was, giving me a rare chance to get a few shots. Red-sided Garter Snakes are common but in localized populations in Alberta.

This is a beautiful (can't believe I can actually call a snake "beautiful"!) Red-sided Garter Snake that has slithered into a wooden trap through the wire cone. Several of these boxes are placed in a hibernaculum and people record the number of snakes and their length and then the snakes are free to go on their merry way.

Didn't want to crop this any more, so unfortunately it is a rather distant photo. However, it shows a Red-sided Garter Snake, which is one of our two kinds of snake - the other is a Wandering Garter Snake. Today was the first session of Snake Monitoring in a local park. We found about 32 snakes, I think, which were measured and recorded, roughly half of each type of snake. My reasons for going are to hopefully get the occasional photo worth posting and also in the hope that I will lessen my fear of snakes!

Another photo of one of the Red-sided Garter Snakes found in the hibernaculum in a local park. Think I might just have to ask a trusted friend to hold one of these snakes for me on one of the monitoring days, in the hope that I might even be able to get a supermacro image! Not that I exactly fancy being a couple of inches away from a snake! Anything for a photo, right? Maybe... Red Sided Garter Snake Identifying Features: Body is very slender, average length is 460 to 1300 mm Background colour is dark olive green to black Dull yellow or brown stripe on the back fades towards the tail Red or orange bars appear on the sides Dark spots appear on the back, throat is whitish Females are larger than males Diet is insects, worms, fish, amphibians, small birds and mammals Jaws can dislocate to spread far apart, enabling the snake to consume prey larger than its mouth Information from www.friendsoffishcreek.org/